Graham Seed
Hi! I'm a Senior Assessment Manager at Cambridge English.
Previously, I worked as Director of Studies at an EFL language school in Bosnia. I've also taught EFL in the UK, Germany and Russia.
Location Cambridge, UK
Activity
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I'm very glad you've enjoyed the course!
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Graham Seed replied to Jose Luis Fernandez
That's really interesting that students like teachers being strict! I think that, particularly in some cultures, students expect teachers to be strict. I interpret that as being disciplined - which is a good thing. Being strict/disciplined doesn't mean being unkind, and it doesn't mean being boring and dull either. I agree that some of my best teachers managed...
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Thanks for sharing your experiences Liubov, that sounds very positive.
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Yes I think a good sense of humour is very important!
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The Trinity TESOL qualification is generally considered to be equivalent to CELTA. Most organisations recognise it as such.
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Hi Michaela, I think a lot of teachers are nervous about teaching grammar, especially when they begin. It's certainly something you'll start learning on CELTA, although it does take a lot of time and experience to 'master' teaching grammar (if it is even possible!) So don't worry, but do read and prepare carefully when you're going to teach grammar.
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Hi Natalia. CELTA is for people with very little experience, so it is suitable for you.
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That is a very good point - when you prepare your own (grammar) resources, it's good for you as a teacher as it reinforces what you need to teach in your own mind. If you have the time, and especially if it's the first time you've taught something (and especially if you are a native speaker!) it's definitely recommended to do this.
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Graham Seed replied to Tatjana S
I was so intrigued by national Estonian costumes I had to play your game! Using things the learners are familiar with and then putting the words in English, is going to hopefully be motivational for your learners.
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Good idea Lee
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Great idea! You can extend it very far, and as long as the students are reasonably imaginative, I can imagine it will be a very funny lesson!
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Graham Seed replied to Sebastián Haro
Nice lesson plan! There are some very nice YouTube videos out there that may be appropriate for learners.
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Good idea Nanci, nice use of authentic material if you can find them in English.
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Great idea Yuna!
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Graham Seed replied to Alonso O.
Wow, that's a recommendation, thanks Alonso!
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Good advice, Dirontso!
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Hi Remy. The idea of getting the students to teach the other students what they know is useful more generally - especially in terms of revising grammar points etc.
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Good tip!
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Graham Seed replied to Johnny Benalcázar
I agree Johnny - Mr Bean is good to use! Your lesson is for beginners, that's fine. For stronger learners, because Mr Bean is 'silent', you can get the students to decide what he would be saying, and then get them to 'be' Mr Bean's voice over the top of playing the video; or get students in pairs with one student facing the video and the other not; the student...
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It's a good point that authentic material needs to be well chosen. Poorly chosen authentic material is still authentic, but isn't suitable for your learners in your learning situation.
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Just seen Emmanuel's comment - I guess it's both actually.
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I agree - I love maps! And an extremely good example of realia. Depending on what sort of map it is, there is so much you can do with learners to acquire and use language.
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Graham Seed replied to Mayda Montes
I hope you'll be able to find some answers this week, Mayda!
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Thanks for sharing your tips Michael
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Graham Seed replied to Adrian West
It's strange as a native speaker realising how much there is to know about your own language that you never knew before...!
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Graham Seed replied to Angel Steve
Watch Monica and Marie Therese's video at the beginning of Week 5!
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Love this quote!!
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We're very glad you're enjoying and benefiting from the course Erzsebet!
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Good idea - you either love or hate Jazz Chants! But even if you don't like them, they are very useful. You're right, they stay in your head forever!
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Interesting point about using Jolly Phonics (this is a system that is commonly used for teaching sounds in spelling in primary schools (first language learners of English) in the UK). It certainly works for some learners, especially at the beginning - and you're right, probably in UK ESOL contexts. But the system does break down with more irregular spelling.
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Graham Seed replied to Alison Quemby
That is a very good question. Some would say no, there's no need to teach this phonemic alphabet because it's not real, it would be better to just learn the word and the associated pronunciation of that word. Others say that you should teach it, because then learners can go away and when they come to a word they don't know how to pronounce, and there is no...
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Graham Seed replied to Ildiko V
That is a very good question. Some would say no, there's no need to teach phonemic transcription because it's not real, it would be better to just learn the word and the associated pronunciation of that word. Others say that you should teach it, because then learners can go away and when they come to a word they don't know how to pronounce, and there is no...
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Graham Seed replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
I agree. There's no point getting into a complete muddle if it would be easier, simpler and quicker just to explain in L1.
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Wow - not surprising that Japanese speakers find it difficult to learn English (and the other way round too, I'm sure!)
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It's a good point Asmita that proficient language users do often 'autocorrect', i.e. overlook some errors, because communication has been achieved, despite e.g. a spelling error. You could argue that because communication has been achieved it's ok to always make these sorts of mistakes. However, there are of course dangers in doing this! So of course we should...
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Good activity, David! I've used something quite like it myself many times before.
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And the number of times I see "should of done" written by native speakers... let's not go on with native speaker mistakes!
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Thanks Irina for sharing!
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Good example with the 'schwa' unstressed sound, a very important one.
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I think it depends on the level of the learners, and the fact that some words are more guessable than others, and whether the words are part of a set (i.e. getting one correct word will help being able to get another word right). I don't think you should set a limit, but consider the contexts in which you're using this activity.
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Definitely, good point!
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It's a good point Sarah that some mistakes are ones that are made by both native speakers (especially children) and non-native speakers, for example threw/throwed, as you mentioned, while others would probably only be made by non-native speakers (tea sweet), depending on the L1 interference.
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I strongly agree with both your points. It does depend on the learning styles of the students, but I've found in practice that both timelines and games seem to work well.
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Good points Tatyana. That's why it's helpful to know a little about the learners' L1.
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Hi Joy. I agree with you - see my comment above. For beginners, you can still do jumbled words but you wouldn't present them with all these tenses at once. And you would also give them practice in other different ways too.
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Thanks for sharing this activity Irina. It's one that I've used too.
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You're right, it can be demanding for beginners. That's why beginners shouldn't be presented with all these tenses at once. They'll probably start with just present simple first, and then build their way up to the more complex ones, such as past perfect, etc.
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Good point Irina - if you can find a well-known quotation which exemplifies a specific grammar point then, as you say, learners will probably remember the grammar structure more easily. There are many examples - could you share one or two with us? Thanks!
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Good point, often native English speakers say the same thing.
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Thanks Joy for sharing your experiences, it's very interesting.
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It's easy through tough thorough thought though. :-)
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Sounds good - and appropriate for such a monolingual class.
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Good points Andrew. As a native speaker too, I had the same thoughts before I began my CELTA (many years ago!)
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Which grammar reference book do you have? It would be good to recommend it to others here. For me, a key one which is often used is 'Practical English Usage' by Michael Swan.
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Graham Seed replied to Sophie DR
I like the comparison with the iceberg! Although we don't want people to crash into it!
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Graham Seed replied to Evgenia Kalonaki
That's a good point Evgenia. The English language is such a living organism that it has evolved slightly differently all over the world: that will impact the way we teach the language.
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Hangman is a good 'filler', i.e. if you've got 5 minutes of a lesson left and you don't want to start a brand new activity, it's a perfect short game to aid revision. Good idea Liubov.
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Graham Seed replied to Giovanna Marasco
That's amazing! Welcome to the course.
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Interesting comment Dzhennet!
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Good point. In fluency activities, we certainly don't want to draw attention to mistakes while learners are in the middle of speaking. Noting them and then putting them on the board to share as a whole group is a good way of providing delayed feedback.
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Graham Seed replied to Anastasia M
Glad you've found them useful!
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It's a good point that finding material is so much easier nowadays than it was twenty, thirty years ago.
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Sarah, good point about Scottish pronunciation of 'train' and the fact that depending on context it should be possible to understand what the speaker is trying to say. (I always remember hearing a Northern Irish accent saying 'cow', it would have taken me ages to understand the word as it sounds so different, had it not been for the context.)
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Interesting points Daria, thanks for sharing.
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Hi Mikhail. I agree that listening (as opposed to just 'hearing') always requires an amount of concentration. So whether it's possible to learn it in a relaxed way, I don't know! I think if you watch films/TV in English / listen to radio/webcasts etc. in English then you take in a certain amount of language without realising it. Although, the more you...
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Thanks for sharing Alejandro.
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I agree. I imagine it's to do with the fact the learners WANT to be able to understand every word, just like in their home language, even if they don't need it.
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I agree, I've always found the competition activities work for all types of students!
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I like this idea a lot, although I have found some learners (particularly teenagers) aren't so keen on it, they find it difficult to imagine a situation. However, other learners absolutely love it (as I do) as it's very fun. I guess it just depends on knowing your learners.
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Good idea Diana. Has anybody done this and can comment on how useful it was?
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Thanks Christa for sharing your experiences, they sound very helpful for us all.
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I agree, Inna. Your first point is about a teacher 'grading their language'. The second is about making sure an activity has the right level of challenge for a learner - probably being just slightly more difficult than the current level of the learner. This means there will be some parts the learner can do already (so feel satisfied with a level of success)...
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Good point. You'll find that most if not all tests (such as IELTS and TOEFL) will be trying to test different types of reading and listening in their reading and listening tests, in order to get a good picture of what a candidate's reading or listening is like as a whole. Different tasks in a test may test different things but it all helps to build up the big...
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Good points. I think the teacher can encourage how to learn from what they are watching on TV.
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Graham Seed replied to Ahsan ullah khan
In reality, there isn't a difference. In actual fact, 'foreign' may tend to mean a language which is not one used in the home country; whereas 'second' might mean another language which is (or is not) used in the home country. For example, for Indians, Hindi might be their first language (mother tongue) and English is a second language; but they wouldn't...
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Good point Luis that we use other means to communicate! Some of these are universal - which means they are very helpful when we are trying to teach a particular language.
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Graham Seed replied to Fabiola Valtierra
That's a good point Fabiola that often the skills are "integrated", meaning that we use more than one at once. Right this second I am writing and reading at the same time. Because we do this in real life, this should be reflected in our teaching.
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Do you mean IELTS? It's a commonly-used test of English, usually used for academic purposes (to get into a university), or for immigration purposes. See www.ielts.org
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Graham Seed replied to Nom Muth
These are all names of different tests of English, used for different purposes, e.g. BEC stands for Business English Certificates and is used to test Business English.
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Graham Seed replied to Ahsan ullah khan
There's not really difference. TEFL is more often used in the UK and Europe, while TESL is more often used in USA and Canada.
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Graham Seed replied to Tatjana S
That always used to baffle me!
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I agree. Despite coursebooks trying (and often succeeding in) trying to make the activities authentic, I think teachers will always adapt the coursebook to suit their own learners and teaching situation.
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That's hilarious! And learners will probably love doing it!
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Good point, Tatyana. Then there's the question of how to get learners to think in English/target language, not just speak it. (Better still, to dream in the target language!). Two points spring to mind: firstly, constant exposure to the target language by watching TV etc; secondly, teaching learners functional phrases rather than just individual words. The...
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Graham Seed replied to Scott Coffey
Good for young learners learning parts of the body vocabulary!
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Absolutely, good point.
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Maria, this is a good point. Learners often feel they have to understand every single word: but in fact they don't. You're right, often the words around the unknown word can help give them a good idea of what the word means. And, depending on the sort of reading you're doing, it may not be necessary to understand every word anyway.
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Ruka, getting learners to listen to different accents (e.g. by exposing them to BBC, CNN, etc., as you say) is a good thing. If a teacher is a native speaker of English, then she/he will use his 'native accent', I don't think she/he should change his accent (though it is important to be sensitive to different accents, as well as grading the language...
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Tim, I definitely agree with you. Ask specific, open-ended questions about what they've just been listening to rather than "Do you understand?"
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Graham Seed replied to Tatjana S
Good idea Tatyana!
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I wonder, do you think it's possible to order them? Do you think you should order them?
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Graham Seed replied to Miki Hozumi
Good point Miki that communication skills are changing. Monica and Marie Therese mentioned mobile phones, and there are many different ways we communicate using a mobile device nowadays - and learners should be trained in these different ways. 20 years ago it was very different - and probably in 20 years' time it will be very different again!
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Graham Seed replied to Belen A.
Just a quick example:
Lower-level learners: "What can you see in this picture?"
Mid-level learners: "What do you think is happening in this picture?"
Higher level learners: "What do you reckon's going on here?" -
Good stuff, Tim, fully agree with you.
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I like your point 3. Yes, putting stronger and weaker learners together in pair work benefits both: the weaker benefits from learning with a stronger peer, and the stronger learner benefits by being able to recycle what they already know in order to help the weaker.
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Thanks Ailsa for sharing your experiences. They sound very challenging but you dealt with them admirably.
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Graham Seed replied to Olga Kolesova
It's a good activity, I agree! It's one to have in every EFL teacher's portfolio! (Do you know what, I even used it at my wedding to get all our guests to know each other!)
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Graham Seed replied to Remy Tankel-Carroll
Remy I like this idea and have used it myself often. Another similar idea when learning vocabulary for parts of the body, or for clothes, is to get one volunteer student to agree to have post-it notes all over their body with the pieces of vocabulary on. Students have found this hilarious!
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Graham Seed replied to Sonja Shannon
Good point Sonja
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Adrian thanks for sharing your experiences. Sounds like you are having a positive time learning Spanish and that this can inform the different ways you can teach English, as well as your previous experience of being a trainer.
Reciting poetry is an interesting one. For me personally, I'm not particularly a poetry lover at all, but I can certainly see...
