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English Teaching Forum 2014, Volume 52, Number 4
Fish are the subject of the feature article and the Classroom Activities section of this issue.

Academic articles in this issue discuss the role of spoken grammar in the English language classroom, Personal Learning Environments for supporting out-of-class language learning, integrating environmental education into EFL writing classes, and teaching students to categorize TOEFL essay topics.

Format: Text
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Table of Contents

Spoken Grammar and Its Role in the English Language ClassroomExpand

Spoken grammar has an important role in communicative English language teaching, and teachers who understand how to teach it can improve their students’ fluency. This article defines six features of spoken grammar and discusses related pedagogical issues. Activities and worksheets are provided to guide teachers in developing their students’ ability to communicate effectively in English.

Author: Amanda Hilliard
Format: Text
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International Subscriptions: English Teaching Forum is distributed through U.S. embassies. If you would like to subscribe to the print version of English Teaching Forum, please contact the Public Affairs or Cultural Affairs section of the U.S. Embassy in your country.

U.S. Subscriptions: English Teaching Forum is exempted from the Congressional restriction on distribution of Department of State-produced materials in the United States. U.S. residents who want to order the printed edition can order from the U.S. Superintendent of Documents.

Personal Learning Environments for Supporting Out-of-Class Language LearningExpand

A Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is a combination of tools and resources chosen by a learner to support the learning process. The author discusses tools that help learners control their language-learning process—e.g., collaboration tools, synchronous tools, planning and monitoring tools, and a content repository—and outlines a six-week plan for integrating PLEs into a language course. Discussion of technical and pedagogical considerations of implementing PLEs rounds out the topic.

Author: Hayo Reinders
Format: Website
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International Subscriptions: English Teaching Forum is distributed through U.S. Embassies. If you would like to subscribe to the print version of English Teaching Forum, please contact the Public Affairs or Cultural Affairs section of the U.S. Embassy in your country.

U.S. Subscriptions: English Teaching Forum is exempted from the Congressional restriction on distribution of Department of State-produced materials in the United States. U.S. residents who want to order the printed edition can order from the U.S. Superintendent of Documents.

Integrating Environmental Education into a Genre-Based EFL Writing ClassExpand

This article offers practical ways to integrate environmental education into English language teaching by using the genre-based approach to teaching writing. The authors present a four-stage process for each of three types of writing—descriptive, narrative, and procedure—focusing the content of each type of writing on the environment.

Author: Lestari Setyowati and Utami Widiati
Format: Text
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Teaching Students to Categorize TOEFL Essay TopicsExpand

The author maintains that categorizing TOEFL iBT writing topics helps test takers because they will be more familiar with the topics and thus better able to write about them and because categorizing topics requires critical thinking about the topics. Using some of the 185 TOEFL prompt questions and 10 additional prompts, the article explores ways to code and analyze the prompts, illustrating the process with tables.

Author: Stephan J. Franciosi
Format: Text
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International Subscriptions: English Teaching Forum is distributed through U.S. Embassies. If you would like to subscribe to the print version of English Teaching Forum, please contact the Public Affairs or Cultural Affairs section of the U.S. Embassy in your country.

U.S. Subscriptions: English Teaching Forum is exempted from the Congressional restriction on distribution of Department of State-produced materials in the United States. U.S. residents who want to order the printed edition can order from the U.S. Superintendent of Documents.

Fish All Around UsExpand

This article takes a look at fish from various angles—from individuals keeping fish as a hobby, to medical offices providing aquariums to calm patients, to large public aquariums that thrill their visitors with hundreds of species of fish. A sidebar highlights U.S. locales that are popular for scuba diving and snorkeling.

Author: Phyllis McIntosh
Format: Text
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International Subscriptions: English Teaching Forum is distributed through U.S. Embassies. If you would like to subscribe to the print version of English Teaching Forum, please contact the Public Affairs or Cultural Affairs section of the U.S. Embassy in your country.

U.S. Subscriptions: English Teaching Forum is exempted from the Congressional restriction on distribution of Department of State-produced materials in the United States. U.S. residents who want to order the printed edition can order from the U.S. Superintendent of Documents.

Classroom ActivitiesExpand

This section presents three stand-alone English language-learning activities related to fish.

1. “Aquarium,” for beginner and above students, will allow students to form groups by practicing pronunciation and listening and (at upper levels) by using imagination and critical thinking.

2. “Living in a Fishbowl,” for intermediate students, provides an opportunity to practice descriptive writing.

3. “Fish and Wishes,” for intermediate and above students, gets students to practice making wishes and to listen to and comprehend a story

Format: Text
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International Subscriptions: English Teaching Forum is distributed through U.S. embassies. If you would like to subscribe to the print version of English Teaching Forum, please contact the Public Affairs or Cultural Affairs section of the U.S. Embassy in your country.

U.S. Subscriptions: English Teaching Forum is exempted from the Congressional restriction on distribution of Department of State-produced materials in the United States. U.S. residents who want to order the printed edition can order from the U.S. Superintendent of Documents.

The Lighter Side: "Fish Tanks"Expand

In these two puzzles, readers use clues and logic to place fish in the appropriate tanks.

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