We asked teachers how students were coping with the error

1. The teacher asks the students a lot of questions. The students are asked a lot of questions.

Преподаватель спрашивает студентов много вопросов. Студентов задают много вопросов.

2. He told them an interesting story. He was told an interesting story.

Он рассказал им интересную историю. Ему рассказали интересную историю.

3. She visited her friends. She was visited by her friends.

Она посетила ее друзей. Она была посещена ее друзьями.

4. I will give you a good book. I will be given a good book.

Я дам Вам хорошую книгу. Мне дадут хорошую книгу.

5. The rector will receive you at 3 o’clock. You will be received on Wednesday.

Ректор примет Вас в 3 часа. Вы будете приняты в среду.

6. They will show us a new film tomorrow. They will be show a new film tomorrow.

Они покажут нам новый фильм завтра. Они будут показывать новый фильм завтра.

12. Переведите следующие предложения на русский язык, обращая внимание на сказуемое в страдательном залоге.

А. 1. The books were borrowed from the central library.

Книги были заимствованы из центральной библиотеки.

2. An interesting problem was discussed at the lecture.

Интересная проблема была обсуждена на лекции.

3. The newspapers are usually brought in the morning.

Газеты обычно приносятся утром.

4. When was the Moscow University founded?

Когда Московский Университет был основан?

5. All the work will be done by automatic machinery.

Вся работа будет сделана автоматическими машинами.

6. New houses are built everywhere: in cities, towns, and villages.

Новые здания построены всюду: в городах, городках, и деревнях.

7. The experiments will be completed by the end of the week.

Экзамены будут закончены к концу недели.

данный файл принадлежит сайту www.englishforengineer.ru

8. The young workers are trained to use the new equipment.

Молодые рабочие обучаются использовать новое оборудование.

9. A lot of time is given to the study of the new methods of work.

Много времени дается исследованию новых методов работы.

10. The lectures on mathematics were attended by all the students.

Лекции по математике были посещены всеми студентами.

11. English sportsmen will be met by the students of the Institute of Physical Culture.

Английские спортсмены будут встречены студентами Института Физкультуры.

Б. 1. Usually the students are examined in room 41.

Обычно студенты экзаменируются в комнате 41.

2. At the Institute the students are taught many different subjects.

В Институте студентам преподают много различных предметов.

3. The academic year is divided into two terms.

Учебный год разделен на два срока.

4. The children of Sparta were given a military education.

Детям Спарты давали военное образование.

5. In Athens special attention was paid to reading, writing and literature.

В афинском специальном внимании платился чтению, пишущий и литературе.

6. The boy was told to be back at home at 6 o’clock.

Мальчику говорили вернуться домой в 6 часов.

7. This road was built last year.

Эта дорога была построена в прошлом году.

8. The electric lamp was invented by Yablochkov.

Электрическая лампа была изобретена Яблочковым.

9. The telegram will be sent tomorrow.

Телеграмму будут посылать завтра.

10. This building will be completed very soon.

Это здание будет закончено очень скоро.

11. A new library will be opened in our district next week.

Новая библиотека будет открыта в нашем районе на следующей неделе.

13. Переведите следующие предложения на русский язык, обращая внимание на глаголы, требующие после себя определённых предлогов.

1. He was listened to with great attention.

Его слушали с большим вниманием.

2. The documents were sent for a week ago.

Документов посылали неделю назад.

Этот поэт — Мичиган, о котором говорят.

4. The child was looked for everywhere.

Ребенок разыскивался всюду.

5. Her children will be taken care of.

О её детях будут заботиться.

6. You are always waited for.

Вас всегда ждут.

7. The picture was attentively looked at.

На картину внимательно смотрели.

Эта книга часто упоминается.

9. The work of this student was paid attention to.

Работа этого студента была обращена внимание на.

10. He worked hard on his new novel.

Он упорно трудился над его новым романом.

11. She looked after her little sister when her mother was at work.

Она заботилась о её маленькой сестре, когда её мать работала.

12. He looked through the morning newspapers at breakfast.

Он просмотрел утренние газеты при завтраке.

данный файл принадлежит сайту www.englishforengineer.ru

17. Переведите следующие предложения, обращая внимание на перевод модальных глаголов и их эквивалентов.

1. Who can translate this sentence?

Кто может перевести это предложение?

2. You can go to Vologda by train or by airplane.

Вы можете поехать в Вологду поездом или самолетом.

3. Could you speak English a year ago?

Вы могли говорить на английском языке год назад?

4. I hope they will be able to reach the village before it grows dark.

Я надеюсь, что они будут в состоянии достигнуть деревни прежде, чем станет темно.

5. You may go away now, I shall finish the work myself.

Вы можете уйти теперь, я закончу работу самостоятельно.

6. Every engineer must know at least one foreign language.

Каждый инженер должен знать по крайней мере один иностранный язык.

7. Your son must stay in bed because he is still ill.

Ваш сын должен остаться в кровати, потому что он все еще болен.

8. You should take a taxi if you don’t want to be late for the concert.

Вы должны взять такси, если Вы не хотите опоздать на концерт.

9. Students are not allowed to smoke in the classrooms.

Студентам не разрешают курить в классных комнатах.

10. He was not allowed to enter the concert hall after the third bell.

Ему не разрешали войти в концертный зал после третьего звонка.

11. As he received a bad mark, he had to go over the material again.

Поскольку он получил плохую отметку, он должен был пробежаться через материал снова.

12. We were to meet at the station at six.

Мы должны были встретиться на станции в шесть.

13. He was to say at the office until the report was ready.

Он должен был сказать в офисе, пока сообщение не было готово.

14. You will have to repeat the material of the lectures before the examination.

Вы должны будете повторить материал лекций перед экспертизой.

15. We were to send his letter of recommendation by air mail.

Мы должны были послать его письмо от рекомендации воздушной почтой.

16. You should try to find out all the essential facts connected with his work in the Antarctic.

Вы должны пробовать узнать все существенные факты, связанные с его работой в Антарктике.

17. The team of experts is to study the present situation in the country.

Команда экспертов должна изучить существующую ситуацию в стране.

18. Do you know the student who is to make a report at our next meeting?

Вы знаете студента, который должен подготовить сообщение на нашей следующей встрече?

19. You should influence your friend. He is not studying the way he should.

Вы должны повлиять на вашего друга. Он не изучает способ, которым он должен.

20. Переведите следующие предложения на русский язык.

1. It is better to go there by plane. It is much quicker than by train.

Лучше там лететь самолетом. Это намного более быстро чем поездом.

2. The physics laboratory of this Institute has the best apparatus for the experiment.

Лаборатория физики этого Института имеет лучшую аппарату для эксперимента.

3. The road became worse as we went along.

Дорога стала хуже, поскольку мы продвигались.

4. The more you experiment, the better.

Чем больше Вы экспериментируете, тем лучше.

5. He begins to work much earlier than I do.

Он начинает работать намного ранее, чем я.

6. He was given the most difficult task.

Ему давали самую трудную задачу.

7. The last report at the conference was the most interesting.

Последние являются в конференцию, был самым интересным.

8. Edison could work at his experiments for days and weeks. Sometimes he slept less than five

Эдисон мог работать над его экспериментами в течение многих дней и недель. hours a day.

Иногда он спал меньше пять часов в день.

9. The work has to be done in the least possible time.

Работа должна быть сделана в наименее возможное время.

10. It is the least you could do for her.

Источник

Practice Exam Papers for the Russian National Exam. Teacher’s book. 2010

Practice Test 12

ЧАСТЬ 1 – АУДИРОВАНИЕ

3 Вы услышите девушку, рассказывающую о своём путешествии в Южную Америку. В заданиях А8–А14 обведите цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую номеру выбранного вами варианта ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.

14 A8 The narrator wanted to go to South America because 1 she had enjoyed working on a project about it.

2 she wanted to see the nature there. 3 her father had told her a lot about it.

15 A9 The narrator’s parents were worried t h at she 1 would get homesick while she was away. 2 wouldn’t come back from South America. 3 wanted to travel by herself.

16 A10 The narrator says that she was surprised by

1 how well she did in her exams.

2 how long her trip took to plan.

3 how relaxed her parents were about the trip.

17 A11 The narrator decided to do v o lunteer work because 1 some friends recommended it to her.

2 she thought it would be the most enjoyable way to spend her time. 3 she thought it would impress future employers.

18 A12 Regarding her time in the mountain village, the narrator suggests th a t 1 it passed very quickly.

2 she would have liked to stay longer.

3 it had made her want to become a teacher.

19 A13 The narrator says that she is glad that, while on her trip, she 1 spent time getting to know the locals.

2 knew how to speak some Spanish.

3 visited every country in South America.

20 A14 Now that she i s back from her trip, the narrator 1 is keen to travel again.

2 is recovering from an illness she caught in South America. 3 is considering going to university in South America.

ЧАСТЬ 2 – ЧТЕНИЕ

Practice Test 12

1 Установите соответствие между заголовками A–Н и текстами 1–7 . Занесите свои ответы в таблицу B2 . Используйте каждую букву только один раз. В задании один заголовок лишний.

A A better method

B Responsible shopping

C Lucky winners

D Help from nature

1 Two families – one from London, and one from Liverpool – have won last night’s national lottery. Speaking from outside their home in London’s East End, Mr and Mrs Miller said that they will ‘not let the money change their lives’ and that they will both be at work as usual on Monday morning. The Liverpool family, who do not wish to be named, plan to move abroad.

2 For many years now, Changi Airport in Singapore has been voted the world’s best airport by airline travellers. Changi Airport does not simply provide travellers with wonderful restaurants and shops in a calm and pleasant atmosphere. You can also swim in its rooftop swimming pool, have a massage in one of its spas, sit quietly in the ‘garden’ area of its main hall, or watch TV in comfortable chairs while waiting for your flight.

3 Before the invention of the compass, sailors looked to the sun in the daytime and to the stars at night to help them find their way across the oceans. For example, by locating Polaris (or ‘the North Star’) in the night sky, sailors could identify the direction of North. This is because Polaris never moves from its position in the night sky directly above the North Pole.

4 Long ago, zoos obtained their animals by going out into the wild and capturing them. Today, this happens very rarely. For one thing, it is extremely stressful for the animals involved and there is a high risk of injury.

E A great shopping experience

F Working to protect animals

G Everything you need

H Waiting in comfort

Also, wild animals often carry diseases that would harm the other animals in the zoo. Today, therefore, most zoos get their animals from the captive breeding programmes of other zoos.

5 Gyms these days are full of all kinds of fancy exercise equipment; treadmills, rowing machines, exercise bikes, resistance machines and much more. But the biggest gyms also have swimming pools, steam rooms and cafeterias. They offer classes in yoga, dance, aerobics and many other forms of exercise. And they have expert trainers on hand to answer all your fitness questions.

6 Here is one thing that we can all do to help species that are close to extinction. When travelling overseas, be very careful not to buy any souvenirs that have been made from species nearing extinction. This means avoiding purchasing items made from ivory, coral and fur and also ‘medicinal’ products as they often contain rhino, tiger and bear parts.

7 Wildlife parks and zoos are very educational places but perhaps their greatest purpose is the conservation of endangered species. Animal centres all around the world work together in order to breed rare and endangered species. For example, today there are only a few hundred giant pandas left in the wild. If breeding programmes and conservation efforts are successful, future generations may still be able to see these beautiful animals in the flesh, not just in books.

Источник

How to Deal with Student Grammar Errors

Armenuhi Seghbosyan

ESL senior trainer with 8+ years of teaching experience, specializing in ESP (Medical, IT, Financial, Business English), course content creator, CELTA certified trainer, PTE examiner

Fixing language errors is probably one of the key duties of teachers as educators. We are trying to make sure our students learn the right forms and structures and achieve the best possible result. As with all types of language errors, there are a couple of approaches when dealing with grammar one.

On Spot vs Delayed Correction

Some theories suggest that fixing a mistake on spot is very effective as it draws the students’ attention immediately to it, identifies the error and makes sure the same mistake is not made again. There are students who prefer this type of error correction and ask to be interrupted and corrected every time it happens.

Others argue that interrupting the students every time to fix a mistake, results in creating an artificial barrier for them to speak and they start to be afraid of making a mistake every time they want to engage in a conversation.

In my experience, the best approach here is to define the target of the activity before deciding whether to correct a mistake or ignore it at the time being. If the target structure covered during the class is “Past Simple” and the students make a mistake using that structure, I make sure to correct it (by asking the student to repeat the sentence). If, however, the mistake is with “prepositional phrases” for instance, I can decide to come back to it later not to interfere with the fluency and the confidence of the student. Also, when you focus on one thing at a time, you are more likely to achieve a better result than by reacting to every single mistake made during the student’s speech.

As for the learners, who prefer to be corrected all the time, my approach is the following. I do as asked for a couple of classes by following up on how they feel when being corrected all the time. After a couple of classes, they normally agree that not all the mistakes should be corrected at the spot as they can see that communication stops at that point. This is especially true when working with A0-B1 learners.

Now, let’s look at some ways of dealing with grammar errors.

To do this, you will need to monitor your students’ mistakes in the exercises, speech, writing task, however you have decided to practice the target grammar structure, and take note on the mistakes. Later, you will need to put those sentences/utterances on the board and ask the students to identify the mistakes in pairs/individually and try to fix them. Here, make sure to include a couple of correct sentences as well, so that the students have a bit of a challenge rather than trying to find a mistake in each sentence.

If you want the students to take a more personal approach to the individual mistakes they make, you can do this by collecting the mistakes for every student and email them after the class to work on their own ones. This is, of course, a more individual approach and can work very nicely if you are working with a small group of students. However, bear in mind, that this can be a lot of work for the teacher, firstly being very attentive to identify everyone’s mistakes and then checking their corrections as part of the homework.

Another creative approach in working with grammar errors is to create exercises with the sentences used by the students which contained a mistake. Let’s say one of your students used the following sentences:

• “I goed for a walk yesterday.”
• “My have born in Armenia.”

After dealing with these mistakes in class, we can take it forward and create a gap-fill exercise for the students to practice the structure more.

• “I have ______(done) my homework.”
• “I _______(go) for a walk yesterday.”
• “My _______(be) born in Armenia.”

This is a more individual way of dealing with the structural mistakes, as the students are working with ones that came out in their classroom and are closer to real-life interactions.

Though some theories are completely against using translation in foreign language learning, it can be quite useful considering the target you are doing it for. Some grammar tenses/structures have their equivalents in the students’ L1. In Armenian, this is very nicely exercised when dealing with the difference between past simple and continuous forms, between past simple and present perfect, etc. This gives the students a chance to build on their background knowledge and create associations which help them learn faster and retain the information better.

A sample activity that can be used here is to take the sentences that students had a mistake with, translate them into their L1 and ask them to translate it back to the target language. Here students have a chance to look back at the material covered and use that background knowledge to better assimilate the material.

Share with us your experience and tested activities that work well when dealing with grammar errors.

Источник

Fixing language errors is probably one of the key duties of teachers as educators. We are trying to make sure our students learn the right forms and structures and achieve the best possible result. As with all types of language errors, there are a couple of approaches when dealing with grammar one.

On Spot vs Delayed Correction

Some theories suggest that fixing a mistake on spot is very effective as it draws the students’ attention immediately to it, identifies the error and makes sure the same mistake is not made again. There are students who prefer this type of error correction and ask to be interrupted and corrected every time it happens.

Others argue that interrupting the students every time to fix a mistake, results in creating an artificial barrier for them to speak and they start to be afraid of making a mistake every time they want to engage in a conversation.

In my experience, the best approach here is to define the target of the activity before deciding whether to correct a mistake or ignore it at the time being. If the target structure covered during the class is “Past Simple” and the students make a mistake using that structure, I make sure to correct it (by asking the student to repeat the sentence). If, however, the mistake is with “prepositional phrases” for instance, I can decide to come back to it later not to interfere with the fluency and the confidence of the student. Also, when you focus on one thing at a time, you are more likely to achieve a better result than by reacting to every single mistake made during the student’s speech.

As for the learners, who prefer to be corrected all the time, my approach is the following. I do as asked for a couple of classes by following up on how they feel when being corrected all the time. After a couple of classes, they normally agree that not all the mistakes should be corrected at the spot as they can see that communication stops at that point. This is especially true when working with A0-B1 learners.

Now, let’s look at some ways of dealing with grammar errors.

General Correction

To do this, you will need to monitor your students’ mistakes in the exercises, speech, writing task, however you have decided to practice the target grammar structure, and take note on the mistakes. Later, you will need to put those sentences/utterances on the board and ask the students to identify the mistakes in pairs/individually and try to fix them. Here, make sure to include a couple of correct sentences as well, so that the students have a bit of a challenge rather than trying to find a mistake in each sentence.

Individual Correction

If you want the students to take a more personal approach to the individual mistakes they make, you can do this by collecting the mistakes for every student and email them after the class to work on their own ones. This is, of course, a more individual approach and can work very nicely if you are working with a small group of students. However, bear in mind, that this can be a lot of work for the teacher, firstly being very attentive to identify everyone’s mistakes and then checking their corrections as part of the homework.

Exercises

Another creative approach in working with grammar errors is to create exercises with the sentences used by the students which contained a mistake. Let’s say one of your students used the following sentences:

• “I goed for a walk yesterday.”
• “My have born in Armenia.”

After dealing with these mistakes in class, we can take it forward and create a gap-fill exercise for the students to practice the structure more.

• “I have ______(done) my homework.”
• “I _______(go) for a walk yesterday.”
• “My _______(be) born in Armenia.”

This is a more individual way of dealing with the structural mistakes, as the students are working with ones that came out in their classroom and are closer to real-life interactions.

Translations

Though some theories are completely against using translation in foreign language learning, it can be quite useful considering the target you are doing it for. Some grammar tenses/structures have their equivalents in the students’ L1. In Armenian, this is very nicely exercised when dealing with the difference between past simple and continuous forms, between past simple and present perfect, etc. This gives the students a chance to build on their background knowledge and create associations which help them learn faster and retain the information better.

A sample activity that can be used here is to take the sentences that students had a mistake with, translate them into their L1 and ask them to translate it back to the target language. Here students have a chance to look back at the material covered and use that background knowledge to better assimilate the material.

Share with us your experience and tested activities that work well when dealing with grammar errors.



This article deals with the tips and techniques of correcting mistakes of English learning students’ speaking in the classroom.

Key words: to make mistake, error, learning process, to correct, self-correction, non-verbally, comprehension, to focus on something, fluency.

Техника исправления ошибок в устной речи на занятиях

Фазилдинова Севара Нематовна, ассистент

Джизакский политехнический институт (Узбекистан)

В этой статье предусматривается техника и советы исправления ошибок в устной речи у учащихся английского языка.

Ключевые слова: сделать ошибку, ошибка, учебный процесс, исправлять, самостоятельное исправление, не устно, понимание, сосредоточивать внимание на что-либо, плавность речи.

As learners of the foreign language we often make mistakes as it is not our native language. Especially, in spoken English we sometimes omit articles which aren’t translated, use prepositions incorrectly which are those followed by the particular verbs and adjectives. Students also don’t follow grammar rules and make mistakes when they talk. Mistakes aren’t always bad.

It is an important part of the learning process. If they are not making mistakes then they are not being given difficult enough topics and structures to work with. You have to choose material that is challenging but manageable for your class and correct mistakes in positive ways. Singling out students who make errors will make students feel selfconscious and shy so some tact when correcting mistakes is important.

When our students learn something new they always make mistakes. What is the best way to correct these mistakes? Which mistakes should be corrected? Should all student errors be marked?

If they are mistakes, the instructor should point them out. Again, we should go back here to the purpose of correction. If the purpose is to help students improve production, then correction should be limited to one or two areas for students to focus on which are important to overall comprehensibility: the student’s pattern of run-on sentences, for example, or stress patterns, not a single misspelling or mispronunciation.

A crucial issue for any teacher is when and how to correct students’ English mistakes. Mistakes may be numerous and in various areas (grammar, vocabulary choice, pronunciation of both words and correct stressing in sentences). Of course, there are a number of types of corrections that teachers are expected to make during the course of any given class. Here are the main types of mistakes that need to be corrected:

— Grammatical mistakes(mistakes of verb tenses, preposition use, etc.)

— Vocabulary mistakes (incorrect collocations, idiomatic phrase usage, etc.)

— Pronunciation mistakes (errors in basic pronunciation, errors in word stressing in sentences, errors in rhythm and pitch)

— Written mistakes (grammar, spelling and vocabulary choice mistakes in written work) [4]

The main issue at hand during oral work is whether or not to correct students as the make mistakes. On the other hand, correction of written work boils down to how much correction should be done. In other words, should teachers correct every single mistake, or should they give a value judgment and correct only major mistakes.

With oral mistakes made during class discussions, there are basically two schools of thought:

1) Correct often and thoroughly;

2) Let students make mistakes;

Sometimes, teachers refine the choice by choosing to let beginners make many mistakes while correcting advanced students often.

However, many teachers are taking a third route these days. This third route might be called “selective correction”. In this case, the teacher decides to correct only certain errors. Which errors will be corrected is usually decided by the objectives of the lesson, or the specific exercise that is being done at that moment.

In other words, if students are focusing on simple past irregular forms, then only mistakes in those forms are corrected (i.e., goed, thinked, etc.). Other mistakes, such as mistakes in a future form, or mistakes of collocations (for example: I made my homework) are ignored.

Finally, many teachers also choose to correct students after the fact. Teachers take notes on common mistakes that students make. During the follow-up correction session the teacher then presents common mistakes made so that all can benefit from an analysis of which mistakes were made and why.

make mistakes in speaking for three reasons: they didn’t pay attention, they need more practice, or they don’t understand grammatical structure or vocabulary. That’s why when they make mistakes, determine the reason for mistake. You can give them more practice or explanation if they need it. They also make mistakes with structures or vocabulary they learned but don’t remember how to use. You can make a note their mistakes and review this material in a later class. Mistakes are good source of topics to review. Although you don’t correct students’ mistakes every time, you shouldn’t forget them.

Correcting mistakes is done to help students speak better English. Therefore, some methods are better than others. Here are some techniques teachers can use to correct mistakes in student’s speech.

— Don’t interrupt. If students make mistakes, let them finish what they are saying. If you stop them every time they make mistake, they will never learn to say a full sentence. They will expect you to help them when they have even a little bit of trouble. It is important for students to remember words or grammar themselves. If they ask you for help, help them. But if not, let them try to talk.

— Have a positive attitude. Your attitude toward mistakes can interest the students in speaking. There shouldn’t be the tone which makes them afraid of. Don’t shout at students who make mistakes. They feel embarrassed and try not to participate once again in activities. Correct them in a gentle way. Try not to embarrass them before other students for not just using articles or prepositions correctly.

— Self-Correction (oral). The best way to correct mistakes is to have students correct themselves. Ideally a student will realize a mistake has been made and fix it automatically but that is not always the case. If a student answers a question incorrectly you can gently prompt them to revisit their answer. One of the ways to do this is to repeat what the student said placing emphasis on the incorrect portion, for instance “I have play baseball.” and saying it in a questioning way. At this point the student has an opportunity to think about and revise his initial response. You may have your own method of prompting students with a facial expression or phrase which they associate with being incorrect but avoid saying words such as wrong, incorrect, or no in response to mistakes. They are negative and will have ill effects on your students’ confidence in the classroom. It is probably more effective for students to correct their own mistakes. In order to do this, students and the teacher should have common shorthand for correcting mistakes.Self-correction should take place quickly, hardly affecting the flow of the conversation. If students correct themselves too much, it can have the opposite effect. It hinders fluency. You also can’t always rely on students to catch their own mistakes. These may go uncorrected.

— Self-correction (written). Write down the students’ sentences with the mistake on the blackboard. The student might see the mistake when it is written down and be able to correct it. Try to emphasize the mistake they have done. For elementary levels you may underline the word used incorrectly. After all, the student should repeat the correct sentence orally to practice. We teachers should teach students how to self-correct.

Finally, it’s usually not enough for the instructor to just show where the errors are. The student also must know how to correct them, so the instructor should demonstrate for the student how to do this—how to check that the verbs agree with the subject, for example—rather than just making the correction herself, from which the student learns nothing. It is, of course, ultimately the goal for the student to use English independently, which means monitoring and correcting his own language production.

— Peer-Correction. When a student is unable to self correct, peer correction might be appropriate. If a student raises his hand while you are waiting for a student to self correct, you may want to call on that student for the correct answer or, after waiting a short time for a student to self correct, you could ask the whole class the same question and encourage a choral response. Especially with challenging questions, this is a good method because then it is unknown who in the class has the right answer and who does not. Just repeat and emphasize the correct answer by writing it on the board and explaining why it is correct. This is a good method of correcting mistakes because it shifts focus away from the student that provided the original incorrect answer [2].

— Group correction: A student doesn’t always catch his own mistakes, though, no matter how skilled he may be. Or perhaps you don’t want to interrupt an activity. Or maybe you feel as though you have corrected too much during the lesson already, so teacher-to-student correction is out, too. Group correction is an alternative, with peers in small groups pointing out mistakes.

The idea is that groups of students work together to help one another. Because large groups can prove intimidating, five students or fewer together end up as ideal. With role-plays, presentations, interviews, debates, or any other type of group activity, students note mistakes for a feedback session later. Similarly, one student can sit out, observe the conversation, and jot down notes. Other students then rotate out to observe as the activity continues. A correction session follows in which your English learners play the role of the teacher. Always stress that feedback should be positive, and that everyone benefits by pointing out and correcting mistakes together!

Group correction has the potential to foster teamwork, as well as a sense of support in the classroom. Both are important in creating a positive learning environment where students can feel comfortable experiment with the language. It also provides the opportunity for learners to notice language problems without help or interruption by the teacher

— Model the correct sentence. If a student makes a mistake, repeat the sentence for them correctly. Ask the student to repeat the correct version after you for practice.

— Student-to-student correction: This isn’t so dissimilar from group correction. It has many of the same advantages and disadvantages. The primary difference, though, comes with students working in pairs rather than groups.

You can use this type of correction in any conversational activity. As with all conversations, the primary objective is to exchange ideas and/or information. Assign a secondary objective of listening for, identifying, and correcting any mistakes. Students could also work in pairs with a worksheet, discussing and correcting sentences with mistakes that you have purposely made. Both encourage high student talk time, and fosters comprehension and teamwork.

On the negative side, students could miss problems with the language, or even correct something that doesn’t need correction. In group correction, these problems are less likely, because everyone benefits from more than one person’s knowledge of English. Student-to-student correction also has a tendency to eat up a lot of time.

positives: encourages high student talk time, comprehension, and teamwork.

negatives: students might not identify the mistakes, or might try to correct language that isn’t wrong; can be time-consuming.

— Correct non-verbally. You don’t always have to tell students when they make mistake. You may use the gesture, nod your head, or move your head to let them know they made mistake. After gesture, they might notice themselves.

— Ignore the mistakes. Sometimes students speak incorrectly because they haven’t learned the right grammar to use. Explaining this kind of mistakes might take up too much time. If your student says something very complicated and you don’t want to explain the mistake, you don’t have to do it. You can ignore it. Also students sometimes make more than one mistake. You might want to focus on one mistake. Instead of correcting all of them. For example, “I father clever”. You could just correct one of his mistakes “My father”.

— Encouraging. And of course, praise them for their ability to admit their mistakes.

To my mind, one of the best ways to deal with mistakes is to prevent them. Leading students to speak step by step will minimize mistakes and make students more comfortable speaking. The first stage of your lesson is presentation. Explain the new grammar structure and vocabulary. Next begin to practice with simple oral drills. Make sure students can repeat the vocabulary or manipulate the grammar. Next do a focused activity. Before you do the activity, model the task for them. Show them what they will do during the activity. Give them example sentences. Write down sample sentences on the board to help them. Make sure they know what to do, how to do it, and how much time they have. Conduct the activity. While they are doing the activity move around the room and check them. Do they understand? Are they doing the activity correctly? After they finish, ask some students to show the class their work. Go over the answers to the task. If they are ready, do a fluency activity. Review the material in the next lesson, the next week, and in future lessons.

Go from easy activity to difficult activities, from controlled to guide to free activities, and from focused speaking activities to fluency activities. Take baby steps. Don’t expect students to speak fluently without a lot of practice.

In addition to considering the seriousness of an error, the instructor should consider the frequency of the error. If the student has a concern with almost always omitting articles (“a,” “an,” and “the”), this is a problem that should be addressed because omitted articles are distracting from the overall message and can affect overall comprehensibility of the writing.

Correcting student error is a sensitive issue that most instructors would probably rather not do. However, through considering such issues as overall comprehensibility and goals of correction, the instructor can turn the potentially negative exercise of giving corrective feedback into a positive learning experience.

Learning a language is a long process during which a learner will inevitably make many, many mistakes. In other words we take a myriad of tiny steps going from not speaking a language to being fluent in the language. In the opinion of many teachers, students who are continually corrected become inhibited and cease to participate. This results in the exact opposite of what the teacher is trying to produce — the use of English to communicate.

In conclusion I can say that, whichever way you go about correcting your students, try to keep the experience positive for the learner. Being corrected constantly can be a really de-motivating, as every language learner knows. As you are listening out for your students’ errors, make sure you also listen out for really good uses of language and highlight these to the group too. In the case of language learning I really do believe the classic saying, ‘you learn from your mistakes’.

Literature:

1. Allen, Virginia French. Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary. Oxford University Press, 1983.
2. Doff, Adrian. Teach English: Trainers’ Handbook. Cambridge University Press, 1988
3. Russo G.M. Expanding Communication. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983.
4. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/error-correction-1

1. Collect the errors for later
You can then correct them later in the same class (with a game like a grammar auction or just eliciting corrections from the class) or in a future class (for example writing error dictation pairwork worksheets or using the same techniques as can be used in the same class). Make sure you give positive reinforcement as well, e.g. “Someone said this sentence, and that is really good.”
Useful language:
“Here are some things that people said in the last activity”
“I heard several people say this one”
“Can anyone correct this sentence? It has one missing word/ one word missing/ You need to add one word”
“The words are in the wrong order/ You need to change the words around/ change the word order/ mix the words up”
“This is a typical mistake for students from…”
“Don’t worry, even native speakers make this mistake sometimes/ every nationality makes this mistake”
“This mistake is something we studied last week”

2. Facial expression
For example, raise an eyebrow, tilt your head to one side or give a slight frown. Most people will do this naturally, but there is a slight chance a teacher’s expression will be too critical or too subtle for your students to pick up on, and you can (amusingly) practice facial expressions in a teaching workshop by participants communicating certain typical classroom messages (“move over there to work with this person”, “work in pairs” etc.) using just their heads and faces, including feedback on spoken errors in that list.

3. Body language
The problems with using body language to show errors could also be that it is taken as very serious criticism or that it is too vague. Possibilities include using your hands (rolling a hand from side to side to mean “so-so attempt”; making a circle by moving your index finger to mean “one more time”; or a cross with fingers, open palms or even forearms to show a very clear “no” or “wrong”- probably only suitable for a team game etc where the responsibility is shared), head (tilted to one side to mean “I’m not sure that sounds correct”), or shoulders (hunched to reinforce “I don’t understand what you are saying”). Again, practising this in a teaching workshop can be useful, as can eliciting other body language teachers could have used after an observation.

4. Point at the correct language
If you have something on the correct form easily accessible on the whiteboard, in the textbook or on a poster, just pointing at it can be a subtle but clear way of prompting students to use the correct language. What you point at could be the name of the tense or word form they are supposed to be using, a verb forms table or the actual correct verb form, a grammatical explanation, or another grammatical hint such as “future”, “prediction” or “polite”.
Useful language:
“Have a look at your books/ the board”
“The correct version is somewhere in this chart/ poster/ table”
“You copied this down earlier. Have a look in your notebooks”

5. Repeat what they said
This can mean repeating the whole sentence, one section of it including the wrong part, the sentence up to the wrong part, the sentence with the wrong part missed out (with maybe a humming noise to show the gap that should be filled) or just the wrong part. You can illustrate that you are showing them an error and give some hint as to which bit is wrong by using a questioning tone (for everything you say or just for the wrong part). This method is overused by some teachers and can sound patronising if used too often or with the wrong tone of voice, so try to mix up the different versions of it described here and to alternate with methods described in the other tips.
Useful language:
“The man GOED to the shops?”
“The man GOED?”
“GOED?”

6. Just say the right version
The students can then repeat the correct version or tell you what the difference between the two sentences was and why their version was wrong. Because the students don’t do much of the work in this way of being corrected, it might not be as good a way of remembering the correction as methods where you give more subtle clues. Its advantages are that it is quick and suits cultures, classes and students that think of elicitation as shirking by the teacher. It can also be more face-saving than asking them for self-correction, as trying to correct themselves risks making even more mistakes. The “right version” could mean the whole sentence or just the correction of the part that was wrong. In the latter case, you can then ask them to put it into the sentence in the right place and repeat the whole thing.
Useful language:
“I understand what you are saying, but you need to say…”
“We studied this last week. “Hardly” has a different meaning to “hard”, so you need to say…?”
“The past of say is pronounced /sed/. So your sentence should be…?”

7. Tell them how many mistakes
This method is only really suitable for controlled speaking practice, but can be a very simple way of giving feedback in that situation. Examples include “Most of the comparatives were right, but you made two mistakes” and “Three words are in the wrong position in the sentence/ are mixed up”. Make sure you only use this method when students can remember what you are referring to without too much prompting.
Other useful language:
“Very good, but you made just one mistake with the passive”
(For a tongue twister) “Good attempt/ Getting better, but in two places you said /sh/ where it should have been /s/. Can you guess which words?”

8. Use grammatical terminology to identify the mistake
For example, “(You used) the wrong tense”, “Not the Present Perfect”, “You need an adverb, not an adjective” or “Can change that into the passive/ indirect speech?” This method is perhaps overused, and you need to be sure that the grammatical terminology isn’t just going to confuse them more.
Other useful language:
“Because that is the present simple, you need to add the auxiliary (verb) ‘do’”
“Say the same sentence, but with the comparative form”

9. Give the rule
For example, “‘Since’ usually takes the Present Perfect” or “One syllable adjectives make the comparative with –er, not more + adjective” This works best if they already know the rule, and you at least need to make sure that they will quickly understand what you are saying, for example by only using grammatical terminology you have used with them several times before.

10. Give a number of points
This is probably best saved for part of a game, especially one where students work together, but you can give each response a number of points out of 10. The same or other teams can then make another attempt at saying the same thing to see if they can get more points. If you don’t want students to focus on accuracy too much, tell them that the points will also give them credit for good pronunciation, fluency, politeness, persuasiveness and/ or originality of ideas.
Useful language:
“Very good fluency and very interesting, but a few basic mistakes, so I’ll give your team a score of (IELTS) 5.5. Practice your script in your team again for 5 minutes and we’ll try it one more time”
“You got all the articles right this time, so I’ll give you 9 out of 10”

11. Just tell them they are wrong (but nicely)
Positive ways of being negative include “nearly there”, “getting closer”, “just one mistake”, “much better”, “good idea, but…”,”I understand what you mean but…”, “you have made a mistake that almost everyone does/ that’s a very common mistake”, “we haven’t studied this yet, but…” and “much better pronunciation, but…” With lower level and new classes, you might have to balance the need to be nice with the need to be clear and not confuse them with feedback language that they don’t understand, perhaps by sticking to one or two phrases to give feedback for the first couple of months. It can also be useful to give them translations of this and other classroom language you will use, for example on a worksheet or a poster.

12. Tell them what part they should change
For example, “You need to change the introduction to your presentation” or “Try replacing the third word with something else”

13. Ask partners to spot errors
This is a fairly well-known way of giving feedback in speaking tasks, but it can be a minefield if the person giving feedback has no confidence in their ability to do so or in how well the feedback (i.e. criticism) will be taken, and even more so if the person receiving the feedback will in fact react badly. This method is easier to do and easier to take when they have been told specifically which language to use while speaking and so to look out for when listening, usually meaning controlled speaking practice tasks. The feedback can be made even simpler to give and collect and more neutral with some careful planning, e.g. asking them count how many times their partner uses the target form as well as or instead of looking for when it used incorrectly.

14. Try again!
Sometimes, students don’t need much help at all but just a chance to do it again. This is likely to be true if you have trained them well in spotting their own errors, if there was some other kind of mental load such as a puzzle to solve that was distracting them from the language, or if they have had a chance to hear someone else doing the same speaking task in the class or on a recording.
Useful language:
“One more time (but think about the grammar more this time/ but concentrating on making less mistakes instead of speaking quickly)”
“Give it another go”
“Do you want one more chance before you get the final score”

15. Remind them when you studied that point
For example, “Nearly right, but you’ve forgotten the grammar that we studied last week” or “You’ve made the same mistake as everyone made in the last test”.

And finally, a tip that isn’t included in the count of fifteen points as it is the opposite of what the article is supposed to be about:

16. Don’t
Sometimes students won’t benefit from any feedback on spoken errors. I could write another whole article on how to choose when to correct and when not to, and I may well do so…
Useful language:
“We’re concentrating on fluency today, so we’ll leave the error correction until next week”
“There is practice of this in your homework, so we’ll just try and use the language for communication today, and concentrate more on getting the grammar right next week

It’s a question I get a lot.

What do you do when most of your class is misbehaving?

Say you notice twelve, fifteen, or more students talking and goofing around during a lesson or in the middle of a transition.

How should you handle it?

Should you start furiously writing names on the board or turning behavior cards over? “You have a warning! And you have a warning! And you have a warning! And…”

Should you raise your voice and remind them of what they should be doing? “I said to get out your writing journals quietly! That means no talking.”

The truth is, when more than a few students are misbehaving at the same time, warnings and reminders aren’t going to cut it.

To fix the problem, you have to go back to the beginning.

Here’s how.

Step 1: Observe.

Resist the urge to jump in and stop the misbehavior right away. Instead, take a step back and observe. Give yourself 30 seconds or more to upload into your memory the unwanted behavior taking place.

Step 2: Stop the activity.

Stop the activity by signaling for your students’ attention. If they don’t give it to you right away, then you know this is something else you have to work on. It’s important to your effectiveness as a teacher to be able to get your students’ attention any time you need it.

Step 3: Wait.

Stand in one place and wait another 30 seconds. Let their misbehavior hang in the air and settle before speaking. Let them feel the weight of it. Give your students an opportunity to understand what they did wrong all on their own.

Step 4: Send them back.

After your pause, send your students back to their seats or ask them to clear their desks and put their materials away. Refrain from lecturing or expressing disappointment. It may make you feel better, but it doesn’t help. The focus now is on doing things the right way.

Step 5: Replay.

Model for your students the misbehavior you observed, showing how it wasted time and disrupted learning. Modeling how not to behave is a powerful strategy that allows students to view—and really understand—their actions from a different perspective.

Step 6: Reteach

Now model how the activity or transition should be done. If it was a transition, sit at a student’s desk and go through the steps you expect your students to take whenever they transition from one activity to another.

If it was during independent work, literature circles, centers, or whatever, model what you expect during that particular activity.

Step 7: Practice.

Use the power of one strategy to begin practicing the activity with your class. After a few students do it correctly, then get everyone involved. As soon as you’re happy with how they’re performing, move on with your day.

Step 8: Prove it.

Within a day or two, give your students another opportunity to prove they can perform the same, or similar, activity the correct way. When the activity is over, don’t make a big fuss, but be sure and acknowledge the good work. “Now that’s how to do it!”

Step 9: Standardize.

As much as possible, standardize each activity and transition for your students. In other words, they should know the routine for successfully conducting a pair-share activity or for turning in homework or entering the classroom or anything else you do again and again.

Everything that can have a routine, should have a routine.

Back It Up With Action

In nearly all cases of whole-class misbehavior, the students simply don’t know well enough or exact enough what is expected of them.

This underscores the importance of well-taught routines and procedures. And, although you never—or rarely—have to revisit them again during the year, they do need to be backed up with action.

One of the keys of effective classroom management is to never move on unless your students are giving you what you want. So the moment you notice your class going off the rails, stop them in their tracks.

Return them to the beginning.

And have them do it again.

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