This session was given by James Hall at Compass Teacher's Day in Sao Paulo Brazil in 2018. The session looks at effective course design based on the four strand approach to course design. It also looks at the popular course Hang Out! as an example of great course design. In addition, James shares his favorite activities for teacher's to use in the classroom. (c) 2018 James Hall, please use citations when referencing.

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Developing a Balanced Class
Four Strands
Approach
Compass Teacher’s Day 2018
James Hall

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APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE
INSTRUCTION

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Role of L1
Explicit grammar instruction
Role of teacher & learner
Types of activities
Most “important” skills
Dimensions of ELT methods
A lot
A lot
None
None
Learner-
centered
Teacher-
centered
Drills &
pattern
practice
Communicative
tasks
Reading
Speaking &
listening

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Instead of sticking to one approach,
Four-strand Theory
can balance your teaching.

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The four strands
• Meaning-focused input
• Meaning-focused output
• Language-focused learning
• Fluency development

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Meaning-focused input
Main Goal
• Understanding, gaining knowledge, and enjoyment
• Using language receptively to learn something
Conditions
• Content is mostly familiar
• Interesting content; desire to understand
• Support from context clues and background knowledge
• Large quantity of input
Activities
• Extensive reading, shared reading, listening to stories, watching TV or films, being a
listener to a conversation, following instructions, receptive information transfer, etc.

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Meaning-focused output
Main Goal
• Communicating message with language that is mostly familiar
• “Communicative language teaching”
• Developing productive skills
Conditions
• Content is mostly familiar
• Main goal: conveying message
• Developing communication strategies & fluency
• Plenty of opportunities to speak / write
Activities
• Conversation, presentations, storytelling, giving instructions, SMS chatting, writing
letters or emails, role plays, problem-solving, reading activities, etc.

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Language-focused learning
Main Goal
• Learning language features: grammar, vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, and
discourse
Conditions
• Deliberate attention given to language features
• Relatively simple features; not dependent on prior knowledge learners do not have
• Features should occur often in the other three strands
Activities
• Intensive reading/listening, pronunciation practice, grammar rules, substitution
tables and drills, vocabulary from word cards, translation exercises

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Fluency development
Main Goal
• Improve fluency across all four skills (L, R, S, W)
• Developing speed and reinforcing learning (processing language in real-time)
Conditions
• Content is mostly familiar
• Some pressure or encouragement to perform at a faster than usual
• Lots of input and output
• Focus on receiving or conveying meaning
Activities
• Speed reading, repeated retelling, ten-minute writing, and listening to stories

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Balancing the four strands
• Each strand should receive roughly equal
attention in a well-balanced course.

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Let’s take a closer look at Hang Out!
• An exciting six-level English coursebook for
elementary students
• A clear focus on CEFR competencies and
important English assessment tests
• Gradually takes students from CEFR pre-A1 to B1 level
• Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
• 21C skills
• Bold, colorful illustrations, lively songs and chants,
and fun activities
• Project portfolios
• Free downloadable resources
• Student Application
• Classroom Digital Materials

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Let’s take a closer look at Hang Out!
• An exciting six-level English coursebook for
elementary students
• A clear focus on CEFR competencies and
important English assessment tests
• Gradually takes students from CEFR pre-A1 to B1 level
• Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
• 21C skills
• Bold, colorful illustrations, lively songs and chants,
and fun activities
• Project portfolios
• Free downloadable resources
• Student Application
• Classroom Digital Materials

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Materials for
STUDENTS

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Sample Unit
Each unit includes:
• 2 grammatical structures
• 16 new words (two sets of 8)
• Reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar
activities
• Phonics in lower levels
• Lively songs and chants
• CLIL and intercultural content
• CEFR “can do” competency development

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For Students
Worksheets
WorkbookStudent Book
Application Interactive CD

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Student Book
Competency Development
• CEFR alignment
• Vocabulary
(English Profile project by the British
Council categorizes a large pool of
vocabulary according to topic and CEFR
level)
• Can-do statements Can
describe him/herself, what he/she does and
where he/she lives.
I can
communicate very basic information about
myself and my family in a simple way.
I
can ask how people are.

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Teaching the Vocabulary/Target
Language
IWM- Vocabulary Learning IWM- Target Language Point
Learning

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Animation
IWM Animated Stories

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Workbook

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Workbook

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Workbook

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Portfolio

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Workbook Detachable
Portfolio
(Fluency development)
(Meaning-focused output)
A. Detachable portfolio allows learners
to demonstrate what they have
learned throughout the unit
B. Writing framework to assist learners
in creating complete sentences
Check Up
• A checklist of the “CAN DO” learning
objectives so learners and
teachers can track what has been
learned

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Class Booster Blended Learning
Interactive activities
designed to motivate
learners
• Engage in game-like
activities to earn
points.
• As the points add up,
the learners’ English
competency will
improve and their
game avatar will grow.

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Class Booster LMS

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Class Booster Activities
Word Flash Word Match Quiz
Unscramble Summary Reports

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Materials for
TEACHERS

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For Teachers
Worksheets &
Assessments
Interactive Whiteboard
Software
Teacher’s Guides

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Interactive Whiteboard Materials

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Interactive Whiteboard Materials

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Top activities for primary learners

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One Word Too Two Many
• Purpose: Improve awareness of correct sentence structure
• Organization: Individual, pair work
• Focus: Vocabulary, grammar structure
• Materials: Paper, writing tools for each student
• Procedure:
1. Teacher provides students with a list of sentences. (Handout or on
whiteboard). Each sentence has one too many words. (Use structures recently
studied.)
2. Students must locate the extra word and write the correct sentence.
3. Then, students must create their own sentences with one word too many and
share with the class.
4. Other students can listen to the sentence and try to find the extra word.
Extra activity

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1. Where is my so English book?
2. Are you going to today’s is seminar?
3. What are you talking to about?
4. I have no a time to do it now.
5. He's has forgotten his book again.

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Disappearing Words
• Purpose: Improve listening skills and increase awareness of correct sentence
structure
• Organization: Individual, pair work, group
• Focus: Listening, vocabulary, grammar structure
• Materials: White-out / White-out tape, Worksheet copies for all students
• Procedure:
1. Pair students up.
2. Read a text in the Student Book.
3. Have Ss close their books and distribute a photocopy of the passage with some
key words omitted. (Omit larger chunks for higher-level classes.)
4. Students work together in pairs to reconstruct the passage from memory.
5. Check answers; deduct one point for each error.
6. The pair with the highest score is the winner.
Extra activity

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Group Warm-up
Substitution Table Hopscotch
Objective:
Provide questions and have students answer by jumping to the correct words
to complete the sentence and answer the question.
Instructions:
1. Provide multiple questions
2. Set flashcards on the ground
3. Have students line up and jump to each word to complete the sentence
4. Students should not jump directly on the flashcards (for their own safety and
protection of the flashcards
Preparations:
- Prepare a list of questions that can be easily answered with a substitution
table of large flashcards
Extra activity

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Group Warm-up
ItSheThey
is
inonunderby
the
computerdeskcar
.

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The Hot Seat
• Purpose: To help students practice vocabulary,
speaking, and listening
• Organization: Group work, suitable for large classes
• Focus: Vocabulary, speaking, and listening
• Procedure:
1. Split the class into 2 teams, or more if you have a large class
2. Elect one person from each team to sit in the Hot Seat, facing the classroom
with the board behind them
3. Write a word on the board
4. One of the team members of the student in the hot seat must help the student
guess the word by describing it. They have a limited amount of time and
cannot say, spell or draw the word.
5. Continue until each team member has described a word to the student in the
Hot Seat.

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ALLIGATOR
BANANA
BEAUTIFUL
COMPASS

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Shoot and Score
Purpose: To practice reinforce target letters & vocabulary
Organization: Group work, suitable for large classes
Focus: Vocabulary
Materials: Two or three baskets, a ball, and flashcards/or IWM
Procedure:
1. Have students form two teams.
2. Have students form lines and the teacher stands at the front of the class.
3. The teacher presents a flashcard and the first student to speak the correct name
of the letter/vocabulary gets a chance to shoot the ball into the basket.
4. The closer basket it worth one point and the basket further away is worth three
points and the furthest basket is worth 5 points.
5. Give students a chance to participate two or three times.
6. Then total up the score and see which team is the winner.
1 Point5 Points 3 Points

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Fluency development
Purpose: Encourage fluency and accurate decoding
Organization: Individual, pair work, group, class
Focus: Fluency, vocabulary, listening
Materials: Printed text
Procedure:
1. Provide students with printed text
2. Teacher reads the text aloud, occasionally substituting a different word
3. Students identify/circle the mismatched words, for instance: pink for red, or
location for place
4. Students add the number of correct mismatched words they identified

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Thank You!