Ten Conversation Lessons with Stories, Vocabulary Practice, Questions and Activities

Farzad Sharifian
f.sharifian [at] cowan.edu.au
Edith Cowan University (Western Australia)
Suggestions for Using the Lessons

The Story
Depending on the main objective(s) of the course, the teacher may choose to read the story aloud asking the students not to look at it or ask the students to read the story to themselves silently and as quickly as possible.
Vocabulary Practice
The teacher may ask the students to answer the vocabulary questions as soon as they are through with the story. Students should use the text in order to guess the meaning of each vocabulary item.
Questions for Discussion
The questions posed under this section are meant to stimulate spontaneous speech and class discussion. The teacher may ask several students to answer the same question for different possible opinions.
Activities
Here the teacher may ask students to pair up and tell each other the story in their own words and he himself may act as a co-communicator or a counselor. He can also ask one student to tell the whole class the story in his/her own words. Then the teacher may act as a model and pronounce the words under this section and ask the students to repeat the words several times. Finally, the teacher may use each word in a full sentence and ask the students to repeat for possible contextual effects.
Miscellany
A variety of statements such as proverbs and quotes can be found under this section. The statements are deliberately chosen to be provocative to spark off spontaneous debate and discussion. Thus, the teacher may choose each of these statements as a topic for class discussion.

Whenever I have to teach the Simple Past tense in English, one activity I always use is speaking and writing practice using some short “stories” that I made up. Writing them was a lot more difficult than I’d originally imagined since use of only regular verbs in a narrative is not really authentic language. Native speakers simply don’t talk that way. But, to give my EFL English students some practice in writing the forms of regular verbs in past and especially in pronouncing them, I came up with a couple of shorts using only this form. They’re harder to read and pronounce than “normal”, but the intensive practice seems to be quite helpful. So, I continue to use them even though I know this speech pattern is not going to occur in natural English speech.
Since my learners are all from a Spanish-speaking country in South America, Colombia, they typically exhibit a problem in pronouncing the –ed verb ending in its various forms. I’d noticed the same propensity towards pronunciation problems with –ed regular verb endings in other Spanish-speaking areas, so I prepared exercises to help with this early on. Students in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Panama and Ecuador have all benefited from these simple “stories” I hope that perhaps your EFL / ESL students will too.
TEFL Learners can read the story paragraphs aloud, focusing on the correct pronunciation of the verb ending forms. They can fill-in the blanked out endings in the paragraph to practice adding –ed or just –d as required. Also they’ll practice with when to change “y” to an “i” before adding –ed. For example, Play becomes played, and stay becomes stayed, but try and cry become tried or cried. The stories could be cut into strips and re-ordered, acted out as a “skit”, pantomimed, or a variety of written exercises and comprehension activities could be added. As an added feature, I boldface the verbs in the paragraphs.
I attempted to create short paragraph stories that would be of some interest as well. One is set in the Old West and is called, “The Sheriff of Calico County”. The others take place during a visit to the zoo, and during a bank robbery, respectively. They’re entitled, “The Zoo” (169 words) and “The State Bank” (131 words). Kinda catchy titles, ain’t they? There was just a bit of “writing license” taken in the creation of these short paragraph stories. Hey, it worked for Shakespeare, didn’t it?
Here are two as examples for you to try out.
The Zoo
Last Wednesday we decided to visit the zoo. We arrived the next morning after we breakfasted, cashed in our passes and entered. We walked toward the first exhibits. I looked up at a giraffe as it stared back at me. I stepped nervously to the next area. One of the lions gazed at me as he lazed in the shade while the others napped. One of my friends first knocked then banged on the tempered glass in front of the monkey’s cage. They howled and screamed at us as we hurried to another exhibit where we stopped and gawked at plumed birds. After we rested, we headed for the petting zoo where we petted wooly sheep who only glanced at us but the goats butted each other and nipped our clothes when we ventured too near their closed pen. Later, our tired group nudged their way through the crowded paths and exited the turnstiled gate. Our car bumped, jerked and swayed as we dozed during the relaxed ride home.
The State Bank
This morning at 8:33, someone robbed the State Bank downtown. The thief entered the bank and stated that he wanted all their money. The thief smiled but looked very tired. The tellers seemed worried. The thief received the money he requested, asked to be excused, then stormed out quickly as the door revolved. He dashed down the street and screeched away in a damaged car that rattled, squeaked and smoked. It appeared that he really needed the money. The police soon arrived. They barreled and chased down the street. They searched and questioned bystanders, but the thief vanished. The police failed to catch him. Investigators abandoned the case and neglected to do anything else. The money was never recovered and the thief was never identified the report of the incident ended.
In part two of this article series, I demonstrate the use of a similar style, but much longer piece for practicing simple past of regular verbs. If you’re successful and want to try another of my “stories” or two, just e-mail me for more. Better yet try your hand at coming up with a couple of your own. Either way, I’m happy to be able to share these with you and I’d be happy to hear how these worked for you and your EFL / ESL English learners. So, feel free to let me know how well these worked (or didn’t) for you.
Good Luck

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free.
For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost PDF Ebook, "If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know", immediate delivery details and no-obligation information are available online now at: http://bettereflteacher.blogspot.com/
Need professional, original content or articles for your blog, newsletter or website? Have a question, request, or want to receive more information or to be added to his articles and teaching materials mailing list? Then contact the author at this website for a prompt response.

by Candyce Ihnot, a reading teacher in the Minneapolis Public Schools. Ihnot developed Read Naturally, a program which is now used in more than 1,000 schools in sixteen states.

Struggling readers often have fluency problems. Picture in your mind one of your struggling readers. Turn on the audio portion of your brain and listen to that student read. Descriptors you are likely to use to describe the student's reading include word by word, halting, slow, and laborious. Students with these reading characteristics have a fluency problem. Educators often describe reading problems in terms of fluency, and research demonstrates a correlation between fluency and reading comprehension (Armstrong, 1983; Breznitz,1987; Knupp,1988; Lesgold, 1986).

Struggling readers do not read enough

Students become fluent readers by reading (Allington, 1980). Yet in our elementary schools today, students read an average of only 78 minutes daily (U.S. Department of Education, 1986). Struggling readers read even less. This is hardly enough time to become proficient with something as difficult as learning to read. Struggling readers cannot or will not independently read the books in classroom libraries, often pretending they are reading. With increased use of heterogeneous grouping, struggling readers cannot read the basals and anthologies in use in their classroom. Also, poor fluency is a self-perpetuating problem. Struggling readers read so few words during their instructional and independent reading time that the gap between them and their peers continually widens.

What do struggling readers need to become fluent?

Struggling readers need a safe, structured, and highly motivating opportunity to engage in reading on a daily basis. Research supports teacher modeling, repeated reading, and progress monitoring as ways to involve struggling students in the act of reading, to improve students' reading fluency, and to accelerate students' reading achievement. Teacher modeling improves the reading fluency of students (Eldredge and Quinn, 1988; Heckelman, 1969; McAllister, 1989; Reitsma, 1988). Teacher modeling consists of a proficient reader modeling good, correct reading for a less able reader. Dyad reading, echoic reading, Neurological Impress Method, and choral reading are examples of this strategy. Repeated reading also improves fluency (Dowhower, 1987; Knupp, 1988; Koskinen, 1984; Larking, 1988, Rashotte, 1985; Richek, 1988). With this strategy, the student reads a passage of 100-200 words many times until the passage can be read fluently. Finally, daily monitoring of student progress improves student achievement (Schunk, 1982). Combining teacher modeling, repeated reading, and self-monitoring of progress creates a powerful tool to attack the fluency problem of struggling readers.

Over the past four years, second- and third-grade students in a large city school have increased their California Achievement Test scores an average of 18 points each year with this strategy.

Teacher modeling, repeated reading, and progress monitoring procedures

In the Teacher Modeling and Repeated Reading (TMRR) program, each student selects a short, meaningful passage. Every line of the passage is numbered and its word count is indicated. The student reads the selected passage orally to a partner or the instructor for one minute, notes the number of words read correctly, and graphs that number. Next, the student reads along quietly while listening to a tape of the passage until s/he is able to read the passage alone. The tape models correct expression and phrasing. The passage is read slowly enough for the child to read along. Using a one-minute timer, the student then practices reading the passage many times, noting how many words s/he read and her or his improvement with each practice. The student rereads the passage until s/he is able to read it at a minimum of 80 words per minute. The 80-word-per-minute goal is an important starting point; the goal increases as the student's fluency improves.

Finally, the instructor times the student's oral reading of the passage for one minute. The student graphs the number of words read correctly on the graph used earlier. The improvement is noted by teacher and student alike. The student then answers a few questions or writes a short summary of the passage. After checking the answers, the student selects a new passage.

The TMRR strategy involves 20-25 minutes a day, three to five days a week. Periodically, the teacher assesses the student's progress to ensure that the correct level of reading material is being used and that the appropriate fluency goal has been set.

The results

Over the past four years, second- and third-grade students in a large city public school have used the TMRR strategy. These students have increased their California Achievement Test (CAT) scores an average of 18 percentile points each year. In addition, each year an average of 45 percent of the Chapter 1 students using the strategy have _- out of Chapter 1 by scoring above the 40th percentile of the reading comprehension portion of the CAT.

Other observations also are noteworthy. Students' time on task is very high and they are engaged in the act of reading during most of the instructional time. Behavior problems are nearly eliminated. The greatest behavior management problem for the teacher is finding time to listen to the oral reading of all the children eagerly waiting to demonstrate their improved reading rates. Students show increased interest in reading class. They enjoy reading the interesting passages, learning to read them with ease, and watching their progress on the graphs. Finally, many students report reading books at home, and parents comment on the reading and attitude improvements of their children. Improved fluency makes reading easy enough for many students to choose to read for pleasure, which is, after all, a goal of most reading teachers.

For further information and samples, contact Candyce Ihnot at 612/452-4085.

References

Allington, R.L. 1980. Poor readers don't get to read much in reading groups. Language Arts 57 (8): 872-75.

Armstrong, S.W. 1983. The effects of material difficulty upon learning disabled children's oral reading and reading comprehension. Learning Disability Quarterly 6: 339-48.

Breznitz, Z. 1987. Increasing first graders' reading accuracy and comprehension by accelerating their reading rates. Journal of Educational Psychology 79 (3): 236-42.

Dowhower, S.L. 1987. Effects of repeated reading on second-grade transitional readers' fluency and comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly 22 (4): 389-405.

Eldredge, J., Quinn, D.W. 1988. Increasing reading performance of low-achieving second graders with dyad reading groups. Journal of Educational Research 82(1): 40-46.

Heckelman, R.G. 1969. A neurological impress method of remedial reading instruction. Academic Therapy 5 (4): 277-82.

Knupp, R.H. Improving Oral Reading Skills of Educationally Handicapped Elementary School-Aged Students through Repeated Readings. Paper presented at Nova University, 1988. (Eric Document Reproduction Service No. Ed 297 27).

Koskinen, P.S., Blum, I.H. 1984. Repeated oral reading and the acquisition of fluency. J. Niles and L. Harris, eds. Changing Perspectives on Research in Reading/Language Processing and Instruction. Thirty-third Yearbook of the National Reading Conference. Rochester, NY: National Reading Conference Inc., 183-87.

LaBerge, D., Samuels, S.J. 1974. Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology 6: 292-323.

Larking, L. 1988. Repeated readings to young children. Australian Journal of Reading 11 (1): 36-41.

Lesgold, A., Resnick, L.B., Hammond, K. 1985. Learning to Read: A Longitudinal Study of Word Skill Development in Two Curricula. Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh University Press.

McAllister, E.A. A study of peer tutors using the neurological impress method. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Educational Research Association, 23 February 1989, Savannah, GA. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 302 837).

Rashotte, C.A., Torgesen, J.K. 1985. Repeated reading and reading fluency in learning disabled children. Reading Research Quarterly 20 (2): 180-88.

Reitsma, P. 1988. Reading practice for beginners: Effects of guided reading, reading-while- listening, and independent reading with computer-based speech feedback. Reading Research Quarterly 23 (2): 219-35.

Richek, M.A., McTague, B.K. 1988. The "Curious George" strategy for students with reading problems. The Reading Teacher 42 (3): 220-26.

Schunk, D.H. 1982. Effects of children's self-efficacy and achievement. Journal of Experimental Education 51 (2): 89-93.

U. S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research. 1986. What Works. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.

Language syllabus design

Type A Tradition

 It consists of both structural and functional syllabus
 Aspects of Grading a syllabus (McIntosh and strevens,1964)
1. Staging
2. Sequencing
 Selection and Gradation of Vocabulary
1. Frequency of occurrence
2. Coverage
3. Range
4. Availability
5. Learnability (Mackey, 1965)
a. Similarity of the L2 word to its L1 equivalent
b. Demonstrability
c. Brevity
d. Regularity of form
e. Learning load represented by a new word
6. Two other factors:
a. Opportunism
b. interest
 Structure  selection
1. Frequency
2. Coverage
3. Learnability and teachability
 Structure Grading
 Frequency
 Ergonic combination
 Concreteness
 Proportion
 General expediency

The tip for how to teach pronoun usage is not to trust your ear. If you trust your ear, you would have said the answer to the example above would have been "him." You would have been wrong. You have to stick to the rules, regardless of the way it sounds. If you know the rules, use the rules, and apply the rules, there is no reasons why you should miss pronoun usage questions.
Object Pronouns
Object pronouns usually, but not always, are located at the end of sentences. Common object pronouns are us, him, her, us, you, etc. Object pronouns follow objects: direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of the prepositions. If you do not know how these grammatical concepts function, I suggest you review them before moving on so you will be able to recognize direct and indirect objects as well as objects of prepositions. Here is an example: The letter was addressed to him. To is the preposition, so you know that you have to use an object pronoun, which is him.
Assessing Student Understanding
After explaining the concept to students write ten sentences on your SMARTboard and see if students understand the concept. For example: (He, Him) went to school. Obviously, the answer is he as "he" is the subject of the verb.
After students understand how to use subject and object pronouns, introduce who and whom to students. This concept, often dreaded by students, is just as easy as using he/him.

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/39363.aspx#ixzz0OJQUZaSn

 In all over the world, teaching as a career option is considered as one of the noble professions of today. A teacher has full authority and responsibility to mould his students. For building a career in teaching, one should have some different skills and training at different levels. Teachers can make the future of their students by rousing their curiosity and by watching them grow.

For becoming a teacher, one should have to do different areas of specialization for nursery schools, primary schools, high schools, middle schools, colleges and universities etc. For each type of level, an individual must have different types of expertise. People, who love children, can start their career as a teacher in schools and on the other hand, one who wants to mentor young people, should teach in college or university. For being a teacher, the only important thing is that you should be expertise in your field. The basic qualities of a teacher are patient, perseverant, ready to adopt the students' demands and pleasing personality. Being successful in this profession, one should able to understand the students' psychology. With his intelligence, wisdom and patience, a teacher can influence on the students in a positive manner. Students consider their teachers as their role model.

In building a career in teaching, one should have to do a professional course from the reputed institute. Some of professional courses are NTT course, B.Ed, M.Ed and so on. Sharda Group of Institutions also offers B.Ed program at its affiliated college. Now this institute has also established a private university i.e. Sharda University in Greater Noida under Act 14 2009 of UP State Legislative and approved by UGC. B.Ed. Program of the institute is affiliated to Dr. B.R. Ambedakar university, Agra that is formerly known as Agra University. The eligibility criteria for taking admission in B.Ed program at SGI Institute is required Bachelor's degree in any discipline with minimum 55% marks. This institute believes in delivering high level education to the students with the help of its accomplished faculty members. In short, teaching as a career option is a challenging option for everyone because teachers are responsible for making one's career.

Written by Mukesh Kumar
from:http://www.eduq.com/Articles/Teaching--An-Honorable-Profession-of-Today.aspx

This "Digest" is based on the ERIC/CLL "Language in Education" series monograph entitled "Approaches to Syllabus Design for Foreign Language Teaching" by Karl Krahnke, available from Prentice-Hall/Regents for $11.33. To order, write to: Book Distribution Center, Route 59 at Brook Hill Dr., West Nyack, NY 10994 or call: 1-800-223-1360.

THE PLACE OF THE SYLLABUS
A language teaching syllabus involves the integration of subject matter (what to talk about) and linguistic matter (how to talk about it); that is, the actual matter that makes up teaching. Choices of syllabi can range from the more or less purely linguistic, where the content of instruction is the grammatical and lexical forms of the language, to the purely semantic or informational, where the content of instruction is some skill or information and only incidentally the form of the language. To design a syllabus is to decide what gets taught and in what order. For this reason, the theory of language explicitly or implicitly underlying the language teaching method will play a major role in determining what syllabus is adopted. Theory of learning also plays an important part in determining the kind of syllabus used. For example, a syllabus based on the theory of learning espoused by cognitive code teaching would emphasize language forms and whatever explicit descriptive knowledge about those forms was presently available. A syllabus based on an acquisition theory of learning, however, would emphasize unanalyzed, though possibly carefully selected experiences of the new language in an appropriate variety of discourse types.
The choice of a syllabus is a major decision in language teaching, and it should be made as consciously and with as much information as possible.There has been much confusion over the years as to what different types of content are possible in language teaching syllabi and as to whether the differences are in syllabus or method. Several distinct types of language teaching syllabi exist, and these different types may be implemented in various teaching situations.

SIX TYPES OF SYLLABI
Although six different types of language teaching syllabi are treated here as though each occurred "purely," in practice, these types rarely occur independently of each other. Almost all actual language teaching syllabi are combinations of two or more of the types defined here. For a given course, one type of syllabus usually dominates, while other types of content may be combined with it. Furthermore, the six types of syllabi are not entirely distinct from each other. For example, the distinction between skill-based and task-based syllabi may be minimal. In such cases, the distinguishing factor is often the way in which the instructional content is used in the actual teaching procedure. The characteristics, differences, strengths, and weaknesses of individual syllabi are defined as follows:
1. "A structural (formal) syllabus." The content of language teaching is a collection of the forms and structures, usually grammatical, of the language being taught. Examples include nouns, verbs, adjectives, statements, questions, subordinate clauses, and so on.

2. "A notional/functional syllabus." The content of the language teaching is a collection of the functions that are performed when language is used, or of the notions that language is used to express. Examples of functions include: informing, agreeing, apologizing, requesting; examples of notions include size, age, color, comparison, time, and so on.

3. "A situational syllabus." The content of language teaching is a collection of real or imaginary situations in which language occurs or is used. A situation usually involves several participants who are engaged in some activity in a specific setting. The language occurring in the situation involves a number of functions, combined into a plausible segment of discourse. The primary purpose of a situational language teaching syllabus is to teach the language that occurs in the situations. Examples of situations include: seeing the dentist, complaining to the landlord, buying a book at the book store, meeting a new student, and so on.

4. "A skill-based syllabus." The content of the language teaching is a collection of specific abilities that may play a part in using language. Skills are things that people must be able to do to be competent in a language, relatively independently of the situation or setting in which the language use can occur. While situational syllabi group functions together into specific settings of language use, skill-based syllabi group linguistic competencies (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and discourse) together into generalized types of behavior, such as listening to spoken language for the main idea, writing well-formed paragraphs, giving effective oral presentations, and so on. The primary purpose of skill-based instruction is to learn the specific language skill. A possible secondary purpose is to develop more general competence in the language, learning only incidentally any information that may be available while applying the language skills.

5. "A task-based syllabus." The content of the teaching is a series of complex and purposeful tasks that the students want or need to perform with the language they are learning. The tasks are defined as activities with a purpose other than language learning, but, as in a content-based syllabus, the performance of the tasks is approached in a way that is intended to develop second language ability. Language learning is subordinate to task performance, and language teaching occurs only as the need arises during the performance of a given task. Tasks integrate language (and other) skills in specific settings of language use. Task-based teaching differs from situation-based teaching in that while situational teaching has the goal of teaching the specific language content that occurs in the situation (a predefined product), task-based teaching has the goal of teaching students to draw on resources to complete some piece of work (a process). The students draw on a variety of language forms, functions, and skills, often in an individual and unpredictable way, in completing the tasks. Tasks that can be used for language learning are, generally, tasks that the learners actually have to perform in any case. Examples include: applying for a job, talking with a social worker, getting housing information over the telephone, and so on.

6. "A content-based-syllabus." The primary purpose of instruction is to teach some content or information using the language that the students are also learning. The students are simultaneously language students and students of whatever content is being taught. The subject matter is primary, and language learning occurs incidentally to the content learning. The content teaching is not organized around the language teaching, but vice-versa. Content-based language teaching is concerned with information, while task-based language teaching is concerned with communicative and cognitive processes. An example of content-based language teaching is a science class taught in the language the students need or want to learn, possibly with linguistic adjustment to make the science more comprehensible.

In general, the six types of syllabi or instructional content are presented beginning with the one based most on structure, and ending with the one based most on language use. Language is a relationship between form and meaning, and most instruction emphasizes one or the other side of this relationship.

CHOOSING AND INTEGRATING SYLLABI
Although the six types of syllabus content are defined here in isolated contexts, it is rare for one type of syllabus or content to be used exclusively in actual teaching settings. Syllabi or content types are usually combined in more or less integrated ways, with one type as the organizing basis around which the others are arranged and related. In discussing syllabus choice and design, it should be kept in mind that the issue is not which type to choose but which types, and how to relate them to each other.
PRACTICAL GUIDELINES TO SYLLABUS CHOICE AND DESIGN
It is clear that no single type of content is appropriate for all teaching settings, and the needs and conditions of each setting are so idiosyncratic that specific recommendations for combination are not possible. In addition, the process of designing and implementing an actual syllabus warrants a separate volume. Several books are available that address the process of syllabus design and implementation both practically and theoretically (see For Further Reading section; the full-length monograph includes a 13-item annotated bibliography of basic works on syllabus design and a 67-item reference list). These books can help language course designers make decisions for their own programs. However, a set of guidelines for the process is provided below.
Ten steps in preparing a practical language teaching syllabus:

1. Determine, to the extent possible, what outcomes are desired for the students in the instructional program. That is, as exactly and realistically as possible, define what the students should be able to do as a result of the instruction.

2. Rank the syllabus types presented here as to their likelihood of leading to the outcomes desired. Several rankings may be necessary if outcomes are complex.

3. Evaluate available resources in expertise (for teaching, needs analysis, materials choice and production, etc.), in materials, and in training for teachers.

4. Rank the syllabi relative to available resources. That is, determine what syllabus types would be the easiest to implement given available resources.

5. Compare the lists made under Nos. 2 and 4. Making as few adjustments to the earlier list as possible, produce a new ranking based on the resources' constraints.

6. Repeat the process, taking into account the constraints contributed by teacher and student factors described earlier.

7. Determine a final ranking, taking into account all the information produced by the earlier steps.

8. Designate one or two syllabus types as dominant and one or two as secondary.

9. Review the question of combination or integration of syllabus types and determine how combinations will be achieved and in what proportion.

10. Translate decisions into actual teaching units.

In making practical decisions about syllabus design, one must take into consideration all the possible factors that might affect the teachability of a particular syllabus. By starting with an examination of each syllabus type, tailoring the choice and integration of the different types according to local needs, one may find a principled and practical solution to the problem of appropriateness and effectiveness in syllabus design.

FOR FURTHER READING
Alexander, L.G. (1976). Where do we go from here: A reconsideration of some basic assumptions affecting course design. "English Language Teaching," 30(2), 89-103.
Dubin, F., & Olshtain, E. (1986). "Course design: Developing programs and materials for language learning." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Gattegno, C. (1972). "Teaching foreign languages in schools: The silent way (2nd ed.)." New York: Educational Solutions. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 157 403)

Krahnke, K.J. (1981). "Incorporating communicative instruction into academic preparation ESL curricula." (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 210 915)

Mohan, B. (1979). Relating language teaching and content teaching. "TESOL Quarterly," 13(2), 171-82.

Steiner, F. (1975). "Performing with objectives." Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

ABOUT THE MONOGRAPH

"Approaches to Syllabus Design for Foreign Language Teaching," by Karl Krahnke, includes chapters on the place of the syllabus in language teaching, six types of language teaching syllabi, and choosing and integrating syllabi, as well as individual chapters devoted to each of the six types of syllabi defined here.

General Knowledge

We know that there are 7 special facts :
- 7 days in a week
- 7 colors in rainbow
- 7 layers of heavens
- 7 continents in the world
- 7 oceans in the world
- 7 orbits in an atom
- 7 layers of the earth
MATHEMATICS
1* 7 + 3 =10
14* 7 + 2 =100
142* 7 + 6 =1000
1428* 7 + 4 =10000
14285* 7 + 5 =100000
142857* 7 + 1 =1000000
1428571* 7 + 3 =10000000
14285714* 7 + 2 =100000000
142857142* 7 + 6 =1000000000
1428571428* 7 + 4 =10000000000

BIOLOGY
Most Mammals’ neck has 7 bones.
The no. of opening into the human’s head is :
mouth , 2 eyes , 2 ears , 2 nostrils .
CHEMISTRY
The most abundant gas on earth,
NITROGEN, has atomic No. 7
There are 7 Rows in the periodic table
The HALOGEN are found in group 7
The PH of pure water is 7

PHYSICS
There are 7st Base units:
Meter, Kilogram, Second, Kelvin, Mole and Candela
There are 7 colors in the visible light:
red, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet
The atmosphere consists of 7layers:
Troposphere, Stratosphere, Ozonosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Exosphere
ASTRONOMY
There are 7 visible ( to the naked eye ) STELLER OBJICTS:
Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupitar, Venus, and Saturn

Overview

Applied linguistics has been considered a subset of linguistic principles or theories to certain more or less practical matters (Brown 1976, Kaplan et al 1981).
Second and foreign language teaching, translation, and speech therapy are typical areas of practical application.
Although the primary aim of applied linguistics may not be the development of theoretical linguistics, applied linguistics may still do research under the heading of theoretical linguistics.
Applied Linguistics
 In a broad sense, applied linguistics is concerned with increasing understanding of the role of language in human affairs and thereby with providing the knowledge necessary for those who are responsible for taking language-related decisions whether the need for these arises in the classroom, the workplace, the law court, or the laboratory.
Issues in applied linguistics
Language and acquisition/learning
Language and assessment
Language and research methodology
Language and translation/interpretation
Language and cognition
Language and brain
Language and culture
Language and society
Language and policy
Language and media
Language and technology
Second Language Acquisition

By Kamil Wiśniewski Sep 10th, 2007

Modern English language had been subdivided into Early Modern English which was used from the fifteenth century, more or less up to end of the seventeenth century, or according to some scholars even in the eighteenth century, and Modern English was used from that time till now. Only recently was this division renewed as with the end of the twentieth century the time perspective enabled linguists to look at the English language (learn English :-) from a different angle and thus nowadays Modern English is subdivided into Early Modern English and Late Modern English (more or less 1700-1900), while the language used in the twentieth and twenty first century is called Contemporary English, or sometimes Present Day English.

There are numerous factors influencing the development of the English language in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The technological advances enabled faster travels, therefore people started visiting different parts of Britain more often and so the dialects blended. At that time in America sound voices supported the division between British and American English. Dictionaries were published in the USA which provided deliberately distinct norms of spelling to make the American variety more distinguishable. In addition to that many new words came from the British colonies with the new concepts, inventions customs and scientific discoveries.

The grammatical peculiarities of the Late Modern English are divided into two types: changes in syntax which begun in Early Modern English and continued till that time, and totally new aspects introduced in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The former include the use of ‘do’ in questions and negatives which became a standard at that time. Moreover, the rules regarding the use of wh-relatives: who, whom, whose, which became standardized and more stable. Innovations introduced in the Late Modern English include the ‘be + -ing’ construction not only in Present Continuous tense, but also in passives. Also at that time the two schools of approaching grammar emerged. According to some linguists grammarians should only describe the language as it is actually used, while others provided rules that should be obeyed in the ‘correct’ English. The long discussion between the representatives of the two different schools of thought is still serious.

In the period of Late Modern English the standard of pronunciation which is aimed at by all the contemporary learners of English as a foreign language, namely Received Pronunciation (RP), emerged. Since that time Received Pronunciation has been a standard for noblemen and upper class of society in Great Britain. However, unlike nowadays in the Late Modern English RP the phoneme was pronounced in all positions.

When it comes to the sources of Early Modern English loanwords what is interesting is the fact that at that time the Englishmen opposed the influx of French words to their language. Thus the major sources of lexis were Latin and Greek. According to current estimates about two thirds of loanword of Late Middle English have either Latin or Greek etymology.

Brown K. (Editor) 2005. Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics – 2nd Edition. Oxford: Elsevier.