The programme

The programme is not linear, but made up of 8 stand-alone modules, graded so that the more basic language skills are the focus of the modules at the beginning of each element. This will mean that no module is dependant on the previous module, and that participants can therefore choose to attend the modules that apply directly to themselves.

The programme is divided into two main elements: ‘Being understood’ and ‘Understanding’.

Element: ‘Being understood’

This element deals with the production of clear, lucid spoken English, and progresses from the production of the basic sounds of English to forming cohesive and coherent sentences that will be easily understood by native and non-native speakers alike.

Module: ‘Sounds and spelling’

Background: English is not an entirely phonetic language, the letters and sounds do not always match (e.g. the ‘f’ sound in ‘laugh’ and ‘phone’); this means that many learners have trouble writing the words they hear, and pronouncing the words they read.

In this module, the learners are encouraged to consider the different sounds that make up the English language, and the various ways in which they are written. They are then given the opportunity to become familiar with the international phonetic symbols, an essential tool for language learners who want to improve their pronunciation.

By the end of this module, the participants will be more able to convert sounds to written English, and vice versa.

Module: ‘Syllables’

Background: English is a stress timed language, unlike most modern languages, which are syllable timed. Each word has one stressed syllable, and good pronunciation depends on the speaker putting stress on the correct one, an example of this is: photograph, photographer, photographic.
 
In this module, the learners are encouraged to look at spoken English as a string of individual sound units, syllables, and not as a series of letters. They also encounter the importance of stressed syllables inside words and how placing the stress on the incorrect syllable can lead to misunderstanding.

By the end of this module, the participants should be coming to terms with an idea of the effects of good and bad stress and how this can improve their pronunciation.

Module: ‘Stress and rhythm’

Background: English is a very ‘sing-song’ language; it is rhythmical and has a great deal of variety in pitch. This is reflected in our history of great poetry. “I wandered lonely as a cloud…”, “She walks in beauty like the night…”
In this module, the learners listen to the musical nature of English, through poetry and song, and see how closely they mirror the rhythm and stress patterns found in everyday English. They then practice reproducing the rhythm and intonation patterns found in the speech of native speakers.

By the end of this module, the participants will be more aware of how ‘foreign’ non-native spoken English sounds and why this is so. They should also be aware of how their spoken English varies from Standard English, and have some ideas of how to make the difference less noticeable.
 

Element: ‘Understanding’

This element helps the learners to bridge the gap between hearing or reading, and understanding. This is achieved by reminding the participants’ of their listening and reading skills in their mother tongue, and then adapting them for use when dealing with English.

Module: ‘Fill the gaps’

Background: In a normal conversation, as native speakers, we stop listening to the other person before they have finished speaking in order to prepare how we are going to respond. In fact, we often respond before the other person has finished. This is normal, and results in a flowing conversation. Native speakers also listen for key words in a conversation that tell them when important information is about to be imparted. We also have strategies for dealing with noisy environments and speakers that are difficult to understand.

In this module, the learners are encouraged to consider how listening is not one skill, but a number of separate micro-skills that we use in different situations. They are encouraged to consider the strategies they use when listening to their own language in environments or situations where hearing is a problem, and how they can use the same strategies in English. The module also focusses on predictive listening in order to pick out specific and important information. Finally, the learners consider what best to do when they don’t understand what has been said to them in different situations.

By the end of this module, the participants will experience less anxiety about listening to English, and will have more tools at their disposal for interpreting what they hear.

Module: ‘Varieties of English’

Background: There are a large number of non-standard ‘Englishes’, some of which are incomprehensible to even native speakers. The United Kingdom has a large number of local dialects and accents, and then there are the former colonies. As well as these native varieties of English, people in the UK have to cope with the immense number of immigrants who speak English as a second language. With respect to this, learners of English need to be able to tune their listening broadly in order to understand words with non-standard pronunciation and or meaning.

In this module, the participants discuss the variety of ‘Englishes’ that can be heard throughout the UK, and how they differ from Standard English. They are then encouraged to consider strategies to cope with them. This is an ideal opportunity for the participants to look again at their own English to see how the work in the first element has affected it.

Module: ‘Discovering meaning’

Background: Non-native speakers often have problems in understanding a text because of one or two unknown words. Sometimes, these words are essential to the meaning of the entire text; and when this is the case educated native speakers have little difficulty in allocating meaning to words that they are unfamiliar with. Take this extract from ‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Carroll; native speakers of English would have little difficulty in allocating approximate meaning to the words ‘beamish’ and ‘frabjous’, and therefore understanding the text as a whole.
"And, hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
  Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
  He chortled in his joy.

In this module, the learners are encouraged to try to discover the meaning of previously unknown words through a combination of the following:
 Identifying word families and affixes; ‘-ish’ and ‘-ous’ are adjective endings
 Context, the topic and tone of the text in which the word is located; the son has returned unharmed and successful, so the adjectives should reflect this
 Cotext, the words around the unknown word; the kind of word that fits between ‘my’ and ‘boy’ is an adjective
 Collocation, words that belong together; we can replace ‘frabjous’ with an adjective that collocates naturally before ‘day’ and reflects the tone of the text, such as ‘happy’

By the end of this module, the participants will have the skills necessary to make an educated guess about the meaning of unknown words through looking at the word itself and the words around it.

Module: ‘Good English’

Background: As English is the language of communication within the organisation, non-native speakers naturally feel at a disadvantage when communicating with colleagues and clients. Learners suffer performance anxiety when having to produce English because they lack confidence in their knowledge of English grammar; this is often because of the way that they have been taught the language.

Most languages have a ‘prescriptive’ grammar, a set of rules that need to be followed in order to make an utterance that can be properly understood; and many languages are extremely inflected, that is, the words (nouns, verbs, and adjectives alike) undergo many grammatical alterations. It is in this background that English is taught abroad, although English grammar is ‘descriptive’, explaining how people use it, and has a very small number of inflections. It is amazing how often I am told that English is a difficult language by people who, when asked to explain why, can give no concrete evidence to back up their assertion.

In this module, the participants are given the opportunity to take a fresh look at the grammar of the English language and see how simple it really is, and how rarely understanding is affected by minor mistakes.

A small adjustment in the participants’ attitude towards the language, along with a clearer picture of how it really works, will lead to the participants approaching English with less anxiety, and allow them to produce it more freely.

Module: ‘Course review & feedback’

Background: At the end of a course, it is important for the participants to have made progress, but it is of little benefit to the learners unless they are aware of the progress that they have made. A final session of reflection on where they were before, during and at the end of the course allows the learners to consider the progress they have made, and think about themselves as learners. The learning skills that the participants have used and improved during a course often need to be pointed out to them so that they can continue to use them, both in continuing to improve their English, and in other training and educational environments.