Dear colleague,

Facilitating fluency should be a key objective for any teacher. However, with low-level and younger learners,  it may often seem a daunting, if impossible, task.  But first of all let's ask ourselves: what is fluency?

Fluency has to do with pace. Fluent … speakers … of … a … foreign … language … do…not…talk…like…this. They make pauses, of course, but they frequently use verbal fillers such as 'erm', 'you know,' and 'actually' to pad them out. Fluent speakers are spontaneous. They use language creatively rather than repeat sentences they have learned in class. They are also risk-takers. They'd rather say something, even if they think it might be incorrect, than stay silent. In fact they tend not to be overly concerned about accuracy at all.

If we want our learners to be fluent, we have to make sure the classroom culture is one that allows for risk-taking. In such a culture errors are seen as natural phenomena – signs of learning – and students love experimenting with the language they are learning so that they can gradually gain full possession of it.

Teachers of young learners know that children love imitating, but imitating does not necessarily lead to fluency. Here are 3 activities to encourage fluency in low-level students.

1. Personalised repetition.

Ask your class to listen and repeat sentences after you. Say a sentence, e.g. I love ice cream. Get them to repeat several sentences. Now tell them that they should repeat only those sentences which are true for them. In other words if you say My favourite colour is blue, only those students in the class whose favourite colour is blue should repeat the sentence. The other students will change the sentence to make it true for them.

This activity is a lot of fun for the students. They can contradict the teacher if they like. They all say their sentences at the same time, and therefore feel secure, and – if played at a rather fast pace – it gets them to react naturally and spontaneously to what the teacher has said.

2. 10 questions a time.

Get your students to work in pairs (A and B). In each pair A has half a minute to ask ten questions. B listens without answering until A has finished asking. B then takes half a minute to decide which questions they can remember (and want to answer), thinking of one answer that is not true for them. Then B in each pair reports their answers while A listens carefully, trying to spot the incorrect answer.

This activity is psychologically interesting for students, and it is that interest along with the tight time frame that seems to make it easier for them to get into a good flow of language. Furthermore, the activity can be carried out with basically any language level.

3. Say what you want.

Write a sign saying Say what you want. Tell your class that whenever you put this sign on the board they have the opportunity to say things in English that they have never learnt before, things they would like to tell you about themselves.

Encourage your students. Whenever someone says something in their mother tongue, reformulate the sentence in English, and show the student that you have understood what they want to tell you, and that you are interested in what it is they are saying. The following is an example from an Italian primary classroom. We can see that the teacher reacts very elegantly to what the student is saying, correcting them discreetly, and always showing a real interest in what s/he has to say:

Student:	My father è ammalato.
Teacher:	Oh, really? Your father is ill. I'm sorry to hear that. What's the problem?
Student:	Have got influenza.
Teacher:	Oh, he's got the flu.
Student:	Yes, he's got molto mal di testa.
Teacher:	Ah, he's got a bad headache.
Student:	He's got a bad headache. Yes.

I would suggest you use this technique repeatedly, for example at the end of a lesson when there are a few minutes left.

I hope you find some of these ideas helpful, and I wish you fun trying them out in your classes.

Best wishes to São Paolo,

Herbert Puchta

Dear colleague,

Your question is most interesting. It often seems that some learners are cognitively more able than others, and consequently the self-esteem, motivation and willingness to learn of the less able students seem to suffer. However, there is also hard evidence that students who seemed academically weak at school frequently became successful later on in life – Albert Einstein is one famous example.

Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences explains the reasons behind such phenomena, and also offers us a model of thinking that can be applied to our classroom work, helping us to reach those students who otherwise seem difficult to motivate.

In Gardner's thinking frame, people are intelligent in at least 8 different ways. We all seem to have areas where we are stronger, and others where we are weaker. Here is a list:

Intra-personal intelligence:	self-smart
Inter-personal intelligence:	people-smart
Logical-mathematical intelligence:	maths-smart
Linguistic Intelligence:	language-smart
Musical intelligence:	music-smart
Visual-spatial intelligence:	picture-smart
Kinaesthetic-bodily intelligence:	body-smart
Naturalistic intelligence:	nature-smart

Gardner's research also convincingly shows that intelligence is not some kind of talent, given to us at birth. Intelligences can be trained and developed – the saying Use it or lose it! seems to be true for each of them!

As language teachers we naturally tend to rely mainly on our own strong intelligence, the linguistic one – which is great for those students in our classes who share our strength in this particular area. But others – whose linguistic intelligence is less developed – might feel less addressed in a language class. Or, to rephrase in a positive way: the more we can manage to activate all of our students' intelligences in our language lessons, and not just the linguistic one, the more ALL of our students will feel motivated and addressed.

If you are interested in reading more about this, please have a look at the last three issues of English Teaching Professional. In my articles in those issues you will also find practical suggestions on how to teach for different intelligences.

All the best to Crete,

Herbert Puchta

Dear Colleague,

Congratulations on your decision to use your rich experience as a language teacher to become a materials writer, and on choosing solid scientific training in methodology and linguistics to complement your practical experience. Corpus linguistics is certainly an area that you should find both useful and fascinating. As a materials writer I'm particularly interested in gaining precise information on mistakes typically made by learners of different mother tongues (which is available through learner corpora), as well as the possibility of checking which language items (structures, lexis, chunks of language etc.) are most frequently used as well as gaining insights into the grammar of spoken English. Corpus linguistics is fundamental for us material writers because of its focus and systematic research on authentic language. A fascinating new book, by the way, is the new Cambridge Grammar of English by Ron Carter and Mike McCarthy! It is well worth checking out.

All the best wish your studies, and I'm sure your choices will be the right ones!

Herbert Puchta