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| Scott Thornbury | ||||||||||||
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The Learning Body The separation between mind and body – a fundamental ‘truth’ in modern Western thought – is succumbing to a view that thinking, and hence learning, is ‘embodied’, i.e. that the mind extends beyond the grey matter of the brain, and is realised, at least in part, through gesture, movement, and physicality. What might this mean for (second) language learning? In this talk I’ll review developments in this exciting new field, and (very tentatively) suggest some applications. Click here for a list of references Dogme ELT: TBL unplugged? In this talk I will address these questions:
Click here for a list of references. Six Big Ideas (and One Little One) All professions – and ours not the least – suffer, to a certain extent, from “tunnel vision”. It is easy, for example, to overlook the fact that ELT is nested within the broader field of education in general, and, as such, should be concerned with more than just the delivery and consumption of “grammar mcnuggets”! In this talk I will briefly review the work of six (non-ELT) educationalists who have been instrumental in shaping my own practical theory of ELT. In so doing, I will suggest that the bigger picture, i.e. situating ELT within a broader educational framework, has important implications and benefits. One such implication (if not a benefit) is called Dogme ELT. Click here for a list of books and websites related to this talk. Grammar or Speaking - or both? Can you learn to speak without grammar? Can you learn grammar without speaking? Is there a special grammar of speech? What’s the best way to learn speaking? In this workshop I address these questions and demonstrate ways that speaking and grammar can be integrated. Click here for an edited powerpoint. The Secret Grammar of Words “Out of the slimy mud of words… there springs the perfect order of speech.” (Eliot). In this talk I show how, with just a handful of words, you can get a bridgehead into the grammar of English, without ever having to mention grammar at all. Click here for a copy of the bibliography in Word Seven ways of looking at grammar What is grammar and how is it internalised in the mind? Is it symbolic code or is it neural connection strengths? Is it the sedimented trace of previous conversations or is it an innate human capacity? However we answer these questions obviously has an impact on the way we go about teaching second languages. In this talk I review some of the key models of grammar – often couched as metaphors – and look at their implications in terms of classroom practice. In so doing, I suggest that models grounded in both sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics offer a more valid basis for teaching than do purely linguistic descriptions. Click here to see a video of this talk given at the New School in July 2009. Click here for a copy of the bibliography in Word Click here for an edited powerpoint Ten things you thought you knew about English grammar The way English grammar is described for teaching purposes has not changed a lot in a hundred years, despite advances in functional and corpus linguistics. We just keep adding more rules - and more exceptions. In this (relaxed) workshop, I attempt to show that there are NO exceptions, and in so doing I challenge some of the myths about English grammar, particularly the division into three (or is it sixteen?) tenses, the rules for future forms, and even the notion of grammar itself! Click here for a copy of the handout in Word. Six things beginning with R In this talk I re-evaluate the relevance of reading in class. I argue that the recommended routines for teaching reading (including skimming and scanning) are rather redundant given most learners can read anyway (in their first language). However reading texts offer a rich resource for a focus on register variables and on reference, and as a source for repeated word and pattern encounters, and even for rote-learning. Click here to see a vdeo clip from this talk |
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