English Messages A Monthly Newsletter by and for teachers in Bahrain
November 2012 Year 2 Issue 5
Laying the foundations for a successful and secure future
We, as educators, are aware of the fact that our students' future largely depends on what they learn and ac-
quire today. As education providers we are making great efforts to provide all students with equal opportu-
nities to develop their communication skills, acquire essential knowledge and core values so that they could
get ready for the future.
Worldwide more and more people and countries are increasingly interested in learning English as a key pre-
requisite for any educational success. It is now the established language of science, technology, scholarship,
commerce and most importantly communication in most countries. Thus, mastering the English language
has become the cornerstone of education in the 21st century, and it is really impossible for both students and
scholars to lead a normal and successful life these days without being competent at English at some level of
proficiency.
In Bahrain, for instance, English is now the
main language of business. Most financial in-
stitutions, service industries, and governmental
transactions use English as a basic means of
communication.
Therefore, together we have to work harder
and multiply our efforts to help our students
learn English and consequently lay the founda-
tions for a successful and secure future.
You Will Find in our Fifth Issue:
Grade Six Test Specifications
School Songs Contest
Recover From Demotivation
Teaching Spelling: A
New Approach
The Art of Storytelling
Culture and Langua
ge Teaching
Free Poster
Teaching Resources:
Unforgettable Days
English Messages
General Guidelines: The Basic English Language Examination measures three skills: lis-
tening, reading and writing. The total mark of the exam is 100.
The exam should be:
valid (i.e. it should offer an appropriate way of measuring
what it claims to measure)
reliable (i.e. the results produced should be as free as possible from errors of measurement)
impactful (i.e. the effect it has on individuals and on classroom practice should be positive)
practical (i.e. the demands it makes on the resources of the test developer and the test administrator
should be compatible with the resources available)
When preparing questions consider the following points:
Instructions are clear, brief, specific, and easy to understand
The task should be familiar, manageable, valid, appropriate
to learners' age, sex, interests and culture.
The text should be:
authentic (modifying and adapting texts that reflect genuine use of
the language)
of reasonable length and difficulty of similar style to text types
they have in lessons
copyright free
The questions should be:
graded as they shift from the easiest to the more demanding
well-organized to follow the structure of the text
clear (not ambiguous)
Visuals should be:
clear
suitable
stimulating to students
English Language Unit Basic Education
Specifications for Test Items Writing: Primary Level, Grade Six
LISTENING section:
at least one distractor should be added in questions that require students to choose
correct answers from different choices
the script is well-recorded and clear
Consider the following points in the READING section:
don't test general knowledge in the passage
topics should not lead to writing questions
questions should not lead to direct lifting of answers from the text
Cloze tests should consider that:
the topic sentence is complete with no gaps to fill in to enable students to bet-
ter understand the whole paragraph
there are at least five words between each gap
Consider the following points in the WRITING section:
the different types of writing tasks: guided, semi-guided and free
the space and time allocated for the writing are sufficient
topics should be within the interest and experience
topics should not be similar to the ones used in the reading section
Letters and emails:
Students should be aware that all five parts of the letter (the heading, the
greeting, the body, the closing and the signature) are in place and used cor-
rectly
Names and addresses of sender/receiver are provided
Finally, have someone else review and do your items/tests.
Guidelines for the Different Exam Sections. (Grade Six)
Page 3
Year 2 Issue 5
Well, this year we are planning to organize a national school songs contest. We hope it will be held in the second semester. Schools have to get ready for the contest by choosing one of the songs in the CD which we distributed during our first meeting with primary school teachers. During the contest we expect to see very beautiful shows. Indeed, schools have the right to choose as many students as they want. In addition to singing, students should act out/perform the song as each song has a special theme or story. This is why schools are encouraged to use special costumes, background music and PowerPoint presentations… The following criteria will be used in assessing students’ performance: Rhythm, Performance, Clarity/Quality of voice and music, Confidence, Facial expressions, and costumes. In the end, all schools should have one team. (ONLY Cycle One). We will inform you about the place and date of the contest, but most probably it will be next March or April. Get ready and do your best to train your students well.
Page 4
Year 2 Issue 5
School Songs Contest
Reasons Why You Should Use Songs to Teach EFL
Language teachers are advised to use songs as part of their classroom teaching repertoire. In fact, scientific research has proven that teaching Eng-lish through songs really helps our students improve their English.
Page 5
Year 2 Issue 5
2- You’re demotivated by not knowing
what to do next Your end-goal might be nice and clear, but if you
haven’t taken time to chunk your end-goal down
into smaller goals, you’ll get stuck, confused and
demotivated when it’s time to take action. Some
projects are small and familiar enough that they
don’t need a plan, but if you’re often worrying that
you don’t know what to do next and you don’t
have a clear plan, then this might be the source of
your demotivation and frustration.
How to get motivated again: If you want to keep
your motivation flowing steadily through all stages
of your projects, take time to create clear project
plans and to schedule your plans into your calen-
dar.
Use your fears to point you to the potential risks
you need to manage in your plan. Write down all
your, “I-don’t-know-how-to” concerns and turn
these into research questions. The first part of any
planning stage is research, and you’ll find new re-
search questions along the way, so realize that con-
ducting research should be part of your action plan
at every stage of your project. Ask yourself what
smaller goals need to be achieved for you to
achieve your end-goal, and finally schedule dead-
lines for yourself.
How To Recover From Demotivation
1- You’re demotivated by lack of clarity about
what you want:
When you haven’t consciously and clearly articu-
lated what you want, your picture of your future will
be vague. We like what’s familiar and so we resist
what’s unfamiliar and vague. If you’re not clear
about what you want to create, then it makes sense
that you’ll lack motivation to act because you’d
rather stay with your current familiar reality.
How to get motivated again: If you want to create
something different from what you’ve been experi-
encing, it’s not enough to just know what you don’t
want. You need to know what you want instead, and
you need to articulate a clear and specific vision of
what you want to create so that you can become fa-
miliar with that new outcome and feel comfortable
to move towards it. Take some time to articulate
what you want and why you want it. It’s always im-
portant to know where you would like to go.
Suggested Strategies & Activities to
Develop Students' Spelling
Recent studies highlight the importance of developing
spelling in order to develop students' reading and
writing skills. This calls for the need to teach spelling
using different strategies in meaningful context.
The following are suggested strategies that teachers
can adopt to teach spelling:
Develop phonemic awareness through the use of
meaningful context, such as, the text book materials,
songs and stories that provide repetitive reinforce-
ment of words.
Explore sounds by helping students to notice the
sounds in different words using rhyming words.
Discover spelling patterns that help students in rec-
ognizing the associated pattern with certain sounds,
such as, ch, sh, tion, gh.
Websites Containing Spelling Activities &
Games
http://www.kidsspell.com/
www.spellingcity.com
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/
interactive/literacy.html
http://pbskids.org/games/spelling.html
http://www.ehow.com/info_8418079_kinds-
spelling-games.html
http://www2.sd5.k12.mt.us/elrod/multiage/
Spelling.html
Use games to motivate students and help them
know the words. There are many useful games,
such as:
1.Hangman
2.Matching (match the picture with the word)
3.Fishing (works best with suffixes and prefixes)
4.Memory Game (flipping words down and
search for matching words)
5.Letter Scramble
Challenge more able students by asking them
to use all the new words in a short story.
Assign homework to the less able by asking
them to form the new words from letters cut from
magazines or newspapers.
Use interactive spelling sites and competitions
such as the Spelling Bee.
Develop visual awareness of the words through pro-
viding pictures and flashcards. Word Walls can be
used to display the targeted words.
Teach words in small chunks rather than giving long
lists weekly. Two to three words can be taught daily.
Provide sufficient time to practice and offer feed-
back on any misspelled words. Use the Look, Say,
Cover, Write, Check strategy.
Encourage self-assessment and peer assessment
against words lists.
Help students with their dictionary skills.
Let students keep their own Words Journals
Know your students' needs through their writing and
weekly dictation and reteach common mistakes.
Assign Spelling Buddy to help students with their
spelling.
Use Letters Cards to help students form the new
words which help in their awareness of the construc-
tion of words. Writing the words in the air and using
dough.
Use different activities to reinforce the words, such
as, words with gaps, word search, cross words.
By Mrs. Ameera Al Balushi
Curriculum Specialist
Page 6
Year 2 Issue 5
Since the human race began, people
have told stories to each other, to pass
on family lore, values and beliefs, com-
mon history and heritage, to teach fac-
tual and conceptual information, to en-
tertain, and to form bonds of friendship.
Storytelling is an art, a tool, a device, a
gateway to the past and a portal to the
future that supports the present. Our true
voices come alive when we share stories
What are the most important aspects of
storytelling?
For the listener?
– The story is engaging
– The storyteller is engaging
– The listener can participate in the story-
telling
For the storyteller?
– Choose the right story
– Make the storytelling fun and interesting
– Include the listeners in the storytelling Characteristics of Young Learners
impulsive
inquisitive
energetic
spontaneous
social
entertained
Crave our attention…
and our love…
How children learn • Children are active learners and thinkers.
(Piaget, 1970)
• Children learn through social interaction.
(Vygotsky, 1962)
• Children learn effectively through scaffold-
ing by adults. (Bruner, 1983)
Teaching approaches for young learners
We help children learn language when
what we ask them to do is…
•Purposeful
•Meaningful
•Social
•Supported
•Enjoyable
•Full of practice
Rationale for using stories
• Stories use a holistic approach to language
teaching.
• Stories support natural acquisition of lan-
guage.
• Stories can introduce children to other cul-
tures and attitudes.
• Stories help children develop critical think-
ing skills.
• Children love stories! Techniques for storytelling
1.Vary the pace, tone and volume of voice.
2. Pause where appropriate.
3. Disguise your voice for different characters.
4. Make sound effects where possible.
5.Ask questions that involve children.
6.Do not be afraid to repeat, expand, and
reformulate.
(Adapted from Brewster, Ellis, & Girard 2004)
Other helpful tips
• Use routines for starting and finishing story-
telling, for getting children’s attention
• Create or bring in visuals and realia for sto-
rytelling (e.g., pictures, puppets, masks)
• Build a visuals and realia bank
• Encourage children to tell the story to a
friend/parent (and imitate your storytelling!)
• Have storytellers observe each other to pick
up new techniques and develop own style. By Mrs. Reem Alaradi — Curriculum Specialist
English Messages
The Art of Storytelling
Page 8
English Messages
Culture and Language Teaching
Introduction
A full mastery of a language does not just mean un-
derstanding the rules and using the four skills per-
fectly. It also requires a full mastery of the culture
of that language. In EFL classes, cultural factors
concerning English language are often neglected.
Culture receives undue attention partly because of
the insufficient culture-oriented realia and materials,
and partly because of the unreasonable and imprac-
tical teaching syllabus that leaves out cultural
knowledge in most tests. Above all, English teach-
ers mostly fail to provide language learners with the
cultural aspects of the English language. It is now a
widely accepted fact that language classrooms must
address the cultural elements of the English lan-
guage.
Why is teaching culture important?
Cultural awareness in today’s world of globalization is highly
significant. Rather than their own culture, EFL learners should
also be aware of the English-speaking countries cultures. This
is often referred to as intercultural awareness, which has always
been talked about as thought it were a 'fifth skill' - the ability to
be aware of cultural relativity following reading, writing, lis-
tening and speaking. Claire Kramsch points out: "If...language
is seen as social practice, culture becomes the very core of lan-
guage teaching. Cultural awareness must then be viewed as ena-
bling language proficiency…. Culture in language teaching is
not an expendable fifth skill, tacked on, so to speak, to the
teaching of speaking, listening, reading and writing.” Conse-
quently, many researchers insist on The EFL learner’s exposure
to the culture related to the English language and consider this
consistent with the language-acquisition process.
Although most of our English textbooks at primary levels start with everyday spoken English which aims
at intercultural communication, most of the drills designed for starting dialogues with native speakers are,
nevertheless, far from the authentic situations in which they are to be used. For example, the sentence
“where are you going?” or “what’s your name?” is not explained by the teacher in detail and he does not
point out in which circumstances to use either. A student will not get a satisfactory answer if he asks an
English-speaking friend he runs into about where he is going, for it is impolite for people to ask this kind of
questions in English-speaking countries, though it is quite common for people to raise such questions when
they come across one of their friends in the Arab world. Such problems arise directly as a result of the lack
of cultural awareness relating to English language.
Page 9
Year 2 Issue 5
In such an environment, a student confronted with a
real situation of intercultural communication and
who may be excellent in reading and writing, will
often fail to communicate successfully with a native
speaker of English if the topic touches on the culture
of the English language. For instance, in a reading
material of acknowledgements to a book, there runs
a line that “I owe many thanks to my students at this
school who were the guinea pigs for many of the
exercises used in the units.” The ignorance of the
usages of the culture-loaded word “pig” in American
culture will unmistakably lead to the confusion and
puzzlement of Arab learners of English: in American
culture, pig can mean wise and loyal and innocence;
whereas in our culture, the image of pig usually
symbolizes stupidity and filthiness. In this example,
there are words in the vocabulary of language that
inform people’s ways of behavior. Just as G. Lazar
has argued, “our students’ comprehension is fre-
quently impeded not by linguistic features, but by
cultural ones. Language can never be divorced from
culture.”
What can a teacher do? As a result, to make a better understanding of the
English language and to ensure the success of inter-
cultural communication that takes place increasingly
in today’s globalization, teachers have to reconsider
the importance of cultural factors in the EFL class-
rooms and to incorporate the teaching of culture into
the teaching of English. Such a model of teaching
culture is determined by the inseparable relation-
ships between language and culture: language is
transmitted by and transmits culture.
The teacher can use reading materials, stories (to be
told orally), and pictures as sources for cultural in-
formation. He can also use other things that will
help his students get a panoramic view of the target
culture. The teacher can also use other sources of
information as materials to develop students’ aware-
ness of the foreign culture by utilizing one of the
learners’ five natural powers of sight, hearing, feel-
ing, tasting, and smelling such as: foods or fruits
culturally specific to the English Language, art
works shown in museum, video, CDs, TV, songs,
internet, and souvenirs.
What about students? Being exposed to all these cultural factors is not
sufficient for students to cultivate the intercultural
awareness. It is suggested that students should be
encouraged to take an active part in the revealing of
the cultural information. For this purpose, certain
types of activities should be designed to make stu-
dents aware of every aspect of culture. Activities
like prediction, discussion, research, and celebration
of foreign festivals can be used in the cultural con-
sciousness-raising process.
Conclusion In conclusion, the teaching of culture should be
considered as an integral part of teaching English as
a foreign language. Meanwhile, teachers should de-
velop an awareness of the cultures related to the
English speaking countries, so that they would be
able to present the foreign cultures as they are to
help students form a positive attitude and develop
better understanding of the language components.
By Teacher Feryal Ali Khader
Arad Intermediate Girls’ School
The English Department at A’ali Intermediate Boys School organized a
very exciting Scrabble Game Competition which involved different
boys and girls schools from several governorates. Mrs. Nawal Al Sada,
the English Language Curriculum Specialist attended the competition
and expressed her deep satisfaction with the high level of participant
students and the outstanding organizational efforts made by the Senior
teacher Mr. Jaafar Meerza.
By the end of the competition valuable prizes were given to the win-
ners for the final high scores they got. The school principal seized the
opportunity to thank the English Department at A’ali Intermediate
Boys School for their contributions and active participation in devel-
oping and improving school life.
English Messages
Scrabble Game Competition at A’ali Intermediate Boys School
The English Language Curriculum Unit at Basic Educa-
tion has organized a series of events and meetings to de-
velop a new English Language curriculum which reflects
the new orientations of the Ministry of Education and
responds to the growing needs of students in Bahrain.
Reviewing international literature and understanding the
strengths of some successful world curricular documents
is the first stage in the process of curriculum construc-
tion, and for this purpose last month Mr. Emad Abdulla
Al Sediri presented a workshop entitled : “Constructing a
National Curriculum: Contemporary Trends.”
The meeting was an opportunity for the curriculum team
to discuss a variety of issues regarding educational out-
comes and the major components of the next curriculum
document. As well as that, specialists took their time to
explore and examine a wealth of contemporary trends in
curriculum development processes.
English Language Curriculum Development
MOE
Kingdom of Bahrain Ministry of Education
Directorate of Curricula English Language Unit
(Basic Education)
Tel +973 17 27 86 16
Fax +973 17 24 34 72
Editorial Team Dr. Nawal Al-Khaja
Mr. Emad Al-Sediri
English Messages
1- Grammar:
Complete the sentences with was or were.
I …………............. happy last night.
You …………............. angry yesterday.
She …………............. in London last week.
He …………............. on holiday last summer.
It …………............. a cold morning.
We …………............. at school two days ago.
You …………............. at the cinema last weekend.
They …………............. at home last Thursday night.
The cat …………............. on the roof yesterday morning.
The children …………............. in the garden last month.
2- Vocabulary:
Label the following pictures.
3- Speaking:
A- What did you do last week? Tell your teacher.
4- Writing:
Last week you were sitting in the school library.
Suddenly, you heard someone screaming, “Fire!
Fire”. Write about what happened and what you did.
“Life isn't simple. But the beauty of it is you can always start
over. It'll get easier.” Alacia Bessette, Simply from Scratch, 2010