English for All - Алексей Конобеев's Blog

Do you ever feel nervous before speaking in public? Of course by the virtue of our profession we have to do it every day, but still I've met many excellent teachers who are extremely reluctant to speak at a conference or address an audience outside their classroom. I remember a couple of years ago at a conference in Murmansk a wonderful teacher who had taken part in an experiment to improve the quality of textbooks and who had done an excellent job, got so nervous just before she was to speak, that her blood pressure level rose dramatically and she had to stop in mid-sentence and go and take her medicine. I called her in the end of the day just to make sure she had got home safely and did not need any help, and she was upset that she had not made her speech as intended.

So why do we fail to speak in public sometimes? The reason is simple, it is called "stage fright". Speaking in class is different from speaking to general public or a professional audience because in these cases we are outside our habitual environment.

Although I give lectures and workshops in many different regions to lots of teachers, I get stage fright as well. So let me share some ways of overcoming it, perhaps you will find some of them useful.

First of all, you can never know if you will go down with the audience well. This idea makes many people extremely worried, although, in fact, the solution is quite simple. Any audience is there to listen to something new. Therefore if when you only begin your lecture/presentation/speech ask the people what they know what what they feel will be interesting for them to hear, it will help you a lot. In this way you'll be able to make your information relevant for the audience and ensure that people listen to you. In this way there is no need to fear that you will not be interesting to the audience.

Which brings up another point. Sometimes, no matter how interesting the speech is, it becomes boring very quickly. The reason, again, is simple: the speech is too quiet and monotonous. If you cannot speek loudly, why not come closer to the people? And intonations should not be too "academic": after all, the whole thing is about people enjoying listening to you, not about you enjoying speaking. I've heard several very clever and interesting people who, when they address an audience, immediately "put on an academic hat" and begin speaking as if they were addressing students, and not very clever students at that. They tend to forget that they are talking to professionals who can either help them by sharing their own experience, answering questions, agreeing or disagreeing with the speaker, but it will be a lively talk. Hardly anyone needs lecturing these days, but a conversation always works. Your lecture is worth only as much as how interesting it is for the people and how easy it is to hear you. So there i sno need to fear that you will lose the audience in the middle of your speech.

Some speakers get stage fright because they feel that they are not experienced enough or they don't feel that what they have to say has much value for the audience. Again, we have two simple solutions fo rthis problem. Solution 1: if you feel that you don't know what to say on this topic, choose another topic where you do know what to say. Solution 2: if you are sharing your own experience, it is always interesting. Just remember that your experience and ideas are worth no less than someone else's, and no one can tell about your experience better than you. I remember one of the times when I was working as an interpreter at a big economic forum. Most of th eforum perticipants were governors from different regions of Russia, including the mayor of moscow and I needed to translate what was being said to a British millionnaire and then translate his speech to the entire audience. Although this was by far not my first experience of simultaneous translation at important events, for some reason I felt nervous before going on the stage. But then I said to myself that although it's very likely that there are people in the hall who speak excellent English, I am still a professional interpreter and no one among those present would be able to do my job better than myself. To remind myself of my qualification was enough to drive away the stage fright.

Also, some of us have a fear that something will go wrong with the technical equipment, that the computer won't start, or the data projector will break down or there will be no sound from the speakers. Well, such things do happen. Therefore it is always a good idea to have some alternative variants of delivering a presentation. You can print out the handouts, you can ask the public to share their ideas and experience, you can do all sorts of content-related activities that we do in our classrooms every day. If you are prepared to be flexible, you needn't fear failures of technical equipment.

And finally, some people are afraid of not being able to answer some of the questions at once. In fact, there is nothing wrong with not knowing answers to each and every questions. Some questions do not have an answer. The answer to some questions is the short and simple "no". And when someone asks a question which you cannot even understand there is nothing wrong with asking this person to paraphrase the question, with asking experienced teachers among the audience if they have ever encountered similar problems and how they deal with them. You'll be surprised to see how many solutions will be offered immediately, and there is really no need to be afriad of questions because there are always many people around who want to help you.

These are just a few simple things, but I hope that they will help you to deal with stage fright if ever you get any.

I've just spent two days at the Russian Exhibition center in moscow, attending the 22nd International Book Fair. I go there every year just for this event because this is where you can listen to popular authors, buy books at publishers' prices and on the whole see what new books and textbooks have appeared. This Book fair is also a good place to see some well-known people among the audience. usually there are many actors, singers, TV presenters etc walking along the rows.

This year there are over 800 publishers from many countries present. The Guest of honour is India, and there is a large Indian section where you can have a look at all kinds of books from India and listen to some live music performances. Bukgaria is another guest of honour, with many books present.

Surprisingly, this year it is next to impossible to find any English language textbooks at the fair. There was a number of university textbooks, some very specialised, like English for Hospitality Industry, English for medicine etc. At the huge stand of Logosphera trading company you can find plenty of fiction in English, a lot of excellent arts albums and only a few well-known books like "Pronunciation in Use", "Vocabulary in Use" and other "In Use" series. This year the only federal English language textbooks for schools at the fair can be found at Titul Publishers stand. Yesterday Klara and Marianna Kaufman appeared there briefly, but some people managed to get their textbooks signed by the authors, today Merem Z. Biboletova is at the stand for a while.

Other publishers did not present any federal English language textbooks for schools, the only non-Titul Russian textbook I saw was the textbook by N.A. Bonk.

I also looked at multimedia disks, but all I could find were some learning programmes by Random House and disks like Oxford Platinum and Oxford DeLuxe - something that I had known for years. Pity, because I was really looking forward to buying some discs for myself.

This year the fair is happening in a new pavilion, Pavilion 75, and it looks and feels much better than previous years. The pavilion is large, the rows between the stands are wide, the ventilation system is excellent, the speakers are great so you can easily hear each and every anouncement, and the coffe bars and food stalls are easy to locate.

Actually, the fair lasts till Sunday, so if you have a chance to get there, do - it is interesting.

I do not remember the first time I travelled on the metro in Moscow, but I've always thought that this is what an underground train system should be like. My opinion changed only when I got to travel on underground transport in other countries. The Tube in London is the oldest in the world, the first trains ran there in January 1863 and the first electric trains ran there in 1890. With this long history, it still looks a lot like it used to a hundred years ago. Many lines go long distances on the ground, and very often you can see trains going along different lines on one and the same platform. For someone who is used to the Moscow system of having one platform for one line, it can be quite confusing. even more confusing is the fact that some trains do not go to the end of the line, or if they do and the line splits into two different directions (anyone who went to Heathrow by the Tube knows that), you have to be very careful and read what the sign on the train says, otherwise you may end up somewhere totally different from your destination point.

Trains are comfortable, however. The seats are soft and there is enough standing room for the rush hour. By the end of the day the seats are often littered with the free newspapers you can get at the station entrances.

While in Moscow each station is individually designed, and many of them are decorated with marble, granite, bronze and mosaics, Tube stations in London look rather unimpressive. The walls are tiled at Victoria Station, you can pictures of Sherlock Holmes at Baker Street station, but many other stations have just red brick walls and look gloomy.

Not every station has an escalator. For example, in Covent Garden you have to use a huge lift, but when there are many people travelling, it if very far from being efficient and comfortable. You can also walk up the emergency steps, but there staircase is somewhat narrow and winding and all in all there are 193 steps. A walk up takes time and a lot of effort, so if you are at Covent Garden and want to go up, use the lifts by all means.

Lifts are often used to go up from the underground in the UK. I remember using a lift in Liverpool underground, although I do not remember which station that was.

Sometimes trains stop between stations. I've seen that happen in London and once I missed the bus to Liverpool from Newcastle-upon-Tyne because of the train. It stopped between two stations in Newcastle Underground and stayed there for about 15 minutes. When I arrived at the coach station, I saw the back of my bus and had to buy another ticket.

Underground (or Subway) in the USA is much more modern-looking that that in the UK. Escalators take you down to the station in Washington DC, there is plenty of information about everything on the electronic panels and on the walls, air conditioning is just fine, trains are comfortable, but the light at the stations is not as bright as in Moscow. If you do not like darkish spaces, then you feel better on the train than at the station.

As I said, I used to think that Moscow metro is nothing special, just something what it should be. But now I realise that underground train systems can be very diffferent. The Metro in Moscow is not as hi-tech as that in Washington DC, it is not as old as that in London, the trains are not as comfortable, but it is often more reliable than in some countries and the stations are more like underground palaces and are far more beautiful than what you would normally see under ground. All said, there is something to enjoy everywhere, and my advice is to keep looking for it, because it is always there.

Today I've written a short piece describing how I use discussions in the classroom. To get students talking I often use quotations with which they will either strongly agree or strongly disagree, and this helps to get a discussion rolling without risking to offend someone. At the same time this is a good reason to tell students more about some people and events from English-speaking countries and to provide background information in general. Hope you'll find these quotation useful. As a good source of quotations I use the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations, which I heartily recommend:

1. Douglas Adams British writer: Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

2. Alfred Adler Austrian psychologist: It is always easier to fight for one's principles than live up to them.

3. Pamela Anderson Canadian actress: When you have nothing to live up to, you can't disappoint anybody... When you form a full sentence, you're a genius.

4. Eddie Arcaro US jockey: When a jockey retires he becomes just another little man.

5. Jacques Attali French economist: Machines are the new proletariat. The working class is being given its walking papers.

6. Margaret Atwood Canadian writer: To live without mirrors is to live without the self.

7. Alan Ball English footballer and member of the 1966 World Cup team: I shall tell you what made us what we were. We had this wonderful feeling that we were still part of the people.

8. Roland Barthes French writer: All domination begins by prohibiting language.

9. Buzzie Bavasi American baseball manager: We live by the Golden Rule. Those who have the gold make the rules.

10. Francis Biddle American lawyer: The American Constitution has never greatly bothered any wartime President.

11. Conrad Black Canadian-born British businessman: Since when was greed a criminal offence?

12. Tony Blair Former UK prime minister: I am a pretty straight sort of guy.

13. Boy George English pop singer: New York is so clean now you could eat your dinner off its streets. I'll do London next, but I'll charge this time.

14. Gordon Brown UK prime minister: It will not be a surprise to you to learn I'm more interested in the future of the Arctic Circle than the future of the Arctic Monkeys.

15. Warren Buffett US businessman: It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked.

16. George W. Bush US president: Yo, Blair. How are you doing?

17. David Cameron British politician: He was the future once. (of Tony Blair)

18. Jimmy Carr Irish comedian: On your way out, be aware of women and children - they tend to slow you down.

19. Joan Collins British actress: Older men treat women like possessions, which is why I like younger men.

20. Billy Connolly Scottish comedian: If you want to lose weight, don't eat anything out of a bucket.

21. Robin Cook Former Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons: I may not have succeeded in halting the war in Iraq, but I did secure the right of Parliament to decide on war.

22. Quentin Crisp English writer: Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.

23. The Dalai Lama Tibetan spiritual leader: We are a part of humanity, so we should take care of humanity. And if we can't do that, then we should at least do no harm.

24. Philip K. Dick US science fiction writer: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

25. George Eastman American businessman: The rich man never really gives anything, he only distributes part of the surplus. It is the person of moderate means who really gives.

26. Dawn French British actress: If I were alive in Rubens's time, I'd be celebrated as a model and Kate Moss would be used as a paint brush.

27. Bill Gates American businessman: The world has had a tendency to focus a disproportionate amount of attention on me.

28. John Paul Getty American businessman: The best form of charity I know is the art of meeting a payroll.

29. James Goldsmith British financier: When you marry your mistress you create a job vacancy.

30. Hubert Gregg English songwriter: I'm blessed with total recall, apart from where I left my umbrella.

31. Matt Groening American humorist: You tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try. (Homer Simpson) ...and: Kids are the best...You can teach them to hate the things you hate. And they practically raise themselves, what with the internet and all. (Homer Simpson)

32. Woody Guthrie American folksinger: I ain't a communist necessarily, but I been in the red all my life.

33. Robert Heinlein American novelist: More than three can't agree on when to have dinner, much less when to strike. More than six people cannot decide a thing.

34. David Hockney British artist: The reason you start painting yourself is that you are a model; a cheap model. I mean, you've always got yourself.

35. Peter Jay British journalist, economist and former diplomat: It makes one feel like the geography teacher who showed a map of the world to Genghis Khan. (claiming to have explained monetarism to Margaret Thatcher)

36. David Kay American weapons inspector: We have not yet found shiny, pointy things that I would call a weapon.

37. Peter Kay British comedian: Garlic bread - it's the future. I've tasted it.

38. John Kerry US politician: How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

39. Ann Landers US advice columnist: At every party there are two kinds of people - those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other.

40. Nigella Lawson British cookery writer: Diets are like boyfriends - it never really works to go back to them.

41. Jay Leno American comedian: The US finally came up with an exit strategy. Unfortunately it's for the World Cup. (after the US soccer team were knocked out in the early stages of the World Cup)

42. Gary Lineker English footballer: Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and, at the end, the Germans win.

43. Ken Livingstone British politician: This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful... It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. (On the suicide bombings in London, 7 July 2005)

44. Linda McCartney American photographer and animal rights activist: I don't eat anything with a face.

45. Denis MacShane British politician: I liken the French/British relationship to a very old married couple who often think of killing each other but would never dream of divorce.

46. Bill Maher American comedian: Suicide is our way of saying to God: "You can't fire me. I quit."

47. Warren Mitchell British actor: You don't retire in this business. You just notice the phone hasn't rung for 10 years.

48. Nick Park Animator and creator of Wallace & Gromit: I never thought that playing with plasticine would lead to such a glamorous life.

49. Philip Pullman British writer: I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn't any God at all and that physics was more interesting anyway.

50. John Reid Labour MP and former Home Secretary: Our system is not fit for purpose.

51. Andy Roddick American tennis player: Maybe I'll just punch him or something. (On how he might beat Roger Federer)

52. Anita Roddick British businesswoman: I watch where the cosmetics industry is going and then walk in the opposite direction.

53. Nicholas Serota British art expert: This is a plea for patience. Your scepticism will gradually diminish and your fear will turn to love... All art was modern once.

54. Felipe Scolari Portuguese football coach: Now there is so much professionalism, we have to revert to urging players to like the game, love it, do it with joy.

55. O. J. Simpson American football player: Fame vaporises, money goes with the wind, and all that's left is character.

56. Upton Sinclair American novelist: It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

57. Linda Smith British comedian: I play all my country and western music backwards. Your lover returns, your dog comes back to life and you cease to be an alcoholic.

58. Lynne Truss British writer: Abuse is the currency of all reality shows.

59. Robin Williams US actor: There were a lot of doctors in rehab. It's rather like being in a fat farm with nutritionists.

60. Edward O. Wilson American sociobiologist: Wonderful theory, wrong species. (On Marxism, which he considered more suited to ants than to humans)

Every time I think of a good teacher (and I am lucky to have known such teachers personally), I cannot help noticing that although they are all very different, they have one thing in common: they all do research. The research I mean is not always formal, in fact, many of them have problems trying to formalise their research or to describe its results, but they keep doing it anyway. For some of them research means a constant search for new words and meanings, new ways of putting things in English. This helps them to keep up their proficiency in English, although very often this is not enough for any serious development as teachers. Other teachers, apart from brushing up their English, try to learn as much as possible about new things they read in new textbooks, like what is zorbing ("Enjoy English" 10) or who Squanto was ("Happy English.ru" 9) etc. This is also a kind of research because to do it you need to find some internet sites or books with the information, you need to compare the information you've got from different sources and put it together to be able to explain it to the pupils, so just using a dictionary will not be enough. Some teachers try to do formal research. There are teachers who do it because their methodological unit requires it, and there are those who do it because they are truly interested. Something tells me that the majority of our forum members belong to the latter group.

A frequent problem that such researchers encounter is that they just read whatever they can find on a certain topic and then put the information together. This is what makes it difficult for them to formalise the results of their research. In fact, such an approach would make it difficult to achieve significant results as well.

So how could a teacher work if she/he wants to do some true research, in the academic sence of the word, something that could be formalised, described and published or presented at conferences?

The first step would be to formulate a hypothesis. Of course, to be able to do that a researcher should already have substantial background knowledge of the field she/he is going to research, but since we are talking about professional teachers and research in methodology, this should not be a big problem. A hypothesis is usually formulated around a "what if" idea. That is, what happens if I use this method? Will my teaching become more effective if I use ICT? What will happen if I combine ICT and the process-oriented approach to teaching personal letter writing in grade 8? You may have noticed that with every sentence the idea becomes more concrete, more down-to-earth and manageable. In fact, if we turn the last question into a statement, we will already get a hypothesis, namely: "Teaching 8th-graders to write personal letters will be more effective if we use ICT and the process-oriented approach." This is a research that can be carried out during one academic year, and now it is time to further break it down into smaller, easily identifiable and manageable chunks.

Breaking the work down is necessary because there are stages to go through, with an identifiable result for every stage. Now that you've got your hypothesis, you need to see what other people have done in this area. As likely as not, you will find that noone else has tackled this topic yet. This means that what you do will be very interesting for those who will follow in your footsteps. But if you do find that someone has already done something fairly similar (for example, used ICT and the process-oriented approach to teach essay-writing to 10th-graders), you will be able to see how that person's findings work in your particular classroom and what you can do to apply them to teaching personal letter writing to younger students. In fact, the result of this preparatory stage would be your knowledge of what has been done in this area and what other researchers think about this problem. If no research has been done in this area yet, you will have to find what other researchers mean by ICT, how the process-oriented approach to teaching writing is different from other approaches and how it can be used to teach personal letter writing. With this done, you are ready to plan practical action.

Practical preparation for action. The main aim of every research is to see if your hypothesis works, if it is correct. In our example it would mean to make sure that the use of ICT and the process-oriented approach to teaching writing will enable you to effectively teach your 8th-graders to write personal letters. You will have learnt from your previous background information study that ICT here may mean anything from specially designed learning software to the use of e-mail and blogs. Also, you will have read about the stages of the process-oriented approach to teaching writing. Now it's your job to decide how and when the ICT will come into your teaching in your 8th grade. For example, you may choose to teach students the process-oriented approach first and then introduce ICT, or you may combine the two things and use them simultaneously. You may prefer to go along with the logic of the learning software, or you may decide for yourself on the stages in teaching. You will also see what your students already know about writing personal letters (you can always give them a task and see how well they do it - and in the end you'll give them a similar task and see what has changed during the year). In any case, this is your planning stage. After the plans are laid, the next stage is the practical testing of your hypothesis, that is, the teaching.

Testing your hypothesis. Teaching is teaching. This is what teachers are for, this is what they are supposed to be good it. The only difference between your everyday teaching and teaching as part of your experiment is that here you pay a special attention to what makes your teaching more (or less, as the case may be) effective while using ICT and the process-oriented approach to teaching writing. And also you make notes, you describe what and how your students have learnt about writing personal letters. At the end of the year you should be able to see what progress your students have made and, based on your previous teaching experience you can tell what part of the progress can be attributed to new methods and approaches. So all you have to do now is describe your experiment.

Describing the outcomes. should not be too hard to do. First, you already have your hypothesis. You have tested it in your classroom. You have been taking notes about how the teaching was going and writing down your observations. Now you have a large part of the job done, some of it is already in writing and some is in your head. All you need to do now is write it down on paper, attach examples of students' work from all stages of the experiment, and prepare areport on what and how you have done and what you think will be effective in any other classroom, and what you would not recommend other teachers to do because it is not effective.

Hopefully, this will help some young teachers to begin to do research on a regular basis. By the way, what are you planning to study/research this year?

A frequent problem in communication with people from different countries is that we can misunderstand each other by misinterpreting gestures, attitudes and each other's expectations. many people learn the cross-cultural differences the hard way, by trial and error method. However, there are certain lines along which cultures differ, and if we help our students to realise these differences, this will enable them to be more successful in reaching their communicative aims while dealing with people from different countries.

So how exactly do cultures differ?

1. One of the greatest differences is whether a culture is explicit (or low-context) or implicit (high-context) one. In low-context 9explicit) countries you will find a nlot of information about everything. If you're driving along an American road, a sign signalling a turn will be repeated three times, so you can't really miss it. It's difficult to lose your way in the USA because there are so many signs that tell you much more than you want to know about each and every direction. In Russia... well, have you ever tried to find a specific building in the street? Does every building has its number written clearly so that it's easy to see from the street? The answer is 'no" - in most cases. The implication of this 'implicitness-explicitness" difference is that for someone from an implicit culture the abundance of signs may seem like an intrusion into private life bordering with insanity, and the absence of so many important pices of information will be absolutely maddening for a person from an explicit culture.

2. Degree of formality-familiarity, or formal vs egalitarian cultures. In a formal culture you have to address someone as "Mr. Jones" as oposed to "Tim". Again, in an egalitarian culture it is normal to be on first-name terms with your boss or going jogging with the boss, while calling someone by their first name after you've just met would be an insult in some other country. Compare it with the use of Вы and ты in Russia, vous and tu in France etc. An student who is unaware of these cross-cultural features may seem stand-offish and too formal while he/she is just trying to be polite, and vice versa, while using only first names with people from the 'wrong" culture, may seem too familiar and impudent.

3. Some cultures are monochronic (doing one thing at a time), while others are polychronic (many things may be going on simultaneously). Order is the top priority in a monochronic culture, so if you're paying attention to something else during an important talk or a lecture, this will be taken as a sign of your not being interested or not working hard. In a polychronic culture someone can excuse themselves to answer a phonecall during a meeting, or be signing some papers while listening to a colleague, and this is considered to be a good working attitude. When a person from a monochronic culture gets into a polychronic one he/she may feel slighted that the entire attention is not given to him/her, while for a representative of a polychronis culture such a claim for undivided attention may seem way over the top.

4. Attitude to time:"time is money" (time-precise) vs "you can wait" (time-loose) policy. People from some countries tend to be very pragmatic. "time is money" they say,. and your attempt to take up more of their time than is absolutely necessary will be regarded as an attempt to rob them of some very important and precious resource. For example, if you say to some Americans right before a lunch break "Why don't we have lunch together", they will take out their diary to check when they are free. In a more time-loose culture someone can be quite insulted by such attitude. Just the other way round, in a time-loose culture you will be expected to wait as people come late to meetings, they keep you waiting and they sincerely do not understand your frustration. Just imagine two people from these cultures trying to arrange a meeting!

5. Individualism vs. collectivism. In some cultures the individual is the utmost value, and the common belief is that you are personally responsible for everything that is happening in your life. Just think of the saying "A man is his own army". In other cultures the society is much more important than the individual, and everyone is expected to give up some of their privacy/money/resources for the sake of the 'common cause" (Один в поле не воин"). In an individualist country there is always a single person who is supervising a business and is responsible for it, while in the collectivist cultures there is shared responsibility. In collectivist cultures (for example in Japan) loyalty is more important that a person's professional qualities.

6. Attitude to past-present-future. In some cultures past is not really important. Past is way behind, and all effort is going into shaping up the future. People from such cultures just do not understand the store some other people set by tradition or history of relations and past offences and treachery. Other countries are very traditional, and among such countries you will find not only China, for example, but also Britain where you still have separate taps for cold and hot water not because this is convenient or comfortable, but because "that's how things are done here". A relatively small number of countries copncern themselves with the present day and think of short-term profits rather than long-term relationships.

All these differences may lead to severe cases of culture shock in students when they only begin to communicate with people from different cultures and do not really see any difference between British people and Americans on the grounds that they all speak the English language (well, sort of, you know). Some excellent insights into culture shock and ways of overcoming it, as well as very practical exercises can be found in "Enjoy English" book Grade 10, Unit 4 Section 4. In fact, you may use this information as a starting point for a project work to enlarge upon that section.

I was recently searching for some interesting material to use in class when we talk about professional qualities and future jobs, and came across a number of jobs that are really strange. Here's a short list which you may want to use too:

1. Elephant tender - someone who takes care of elephants in the zoo

2. Hot Walker - a person that walks the racehorses around after a race.

3. Dinosaur hunter - a person who searches for fossilized dinosaurs

4. Cereal box author - the author of advertising on cereal boxes

5. Dog walker - someone who walks dogs professionally

6. Odor Tester - someone who checks if deodorants and anti-perspirants really work as planned

7. Citrus Fruit Dyer - a person who dyes (colours) citrus fruits to make them look better in shops

8. Fortune Cookie Writer - someone who writes predictions to be put inside fortune cookies

9. Fountain Pen Repairer - someone who, well, repairs fountain pens 9some of those pens are very expensive)

10. Wrinkle Chasers - someone who makes sure that new leather shoes have no wrinkles

11. Chicken Sexer - someone who sorts baby chicken into male and female ones

12. Oyster Floater - a person who floats oysters on a barge in running water until they are completely free of impurities.

13. Dog Food Tester - in some countries testing dog food on dogs is prohibited, so there is a professional dog food tester who actually inspects dog food to see if it is good.

14. Whiskey Ambassador - someone who is responsible for choosing only the finest whiskeys and teaching clients the proper way to taste and admire them.

15. Weed Farmer - someone who grows weeds to sell them to horticulture schools and labs so various people can do research and studies in them.

And, talking about weird job titles: in the 19th century there was a position in Royal palaces in the UK that was called a Necessary woman. Can you guess what job it was and what it is called now? the first person to guess correctly will get an audiobook and tasks for it from me via e-mail. The audiobook is in public domain, but I've designed the tasks myself so hopefully you'll be able to use it directly as a listening exercise for your pupils.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse is one of the oldest but also the most rarely used royal residences. The Queen spends there a week each summer and then moves on to Balmoral for her holiday.

The palace is built next to the ancient Abbey, now in ruins, and it stands right at the end of the Royal Mile as you walk downhill from Edinburgh castle. Across the street from the palace there is the Scottish Parilament, a modern building, and right in fromnt of the palace there is the Queen's gallery. If you want to go inside the palace, you buy tickets in the Royal Collection shop (as well as doing some shopping on the way, judging by the majority of visitors there) and walk on to the palace gate. With your tickets checked, you move on into the palace yard. The peace and quiet there is amazing, you immediately forget that you are in the middle of a tourist area of a large city. On your right there is a mountain, and on your left there stands a monument to Edward VII. In front there're tourists having their pictures taking, so it's not easy to take in a good view of the palace. Photography is allowed only outside the palace, so no pictures could be taken inside, but this seems to be almost the only restriction there is. As you come into the palace, you expect to see lots of security cameras and lots of guards everywhere, but in fact you don't notice any cameras and there are several guides inside, but not in every room. Almost all tourists rent audioguides where you can choose your preferred language, so you just move from room to room, dial the number you see on a small stand inside the room and the audioguide tells you about the room. Invariably, every recorded story ends with the words "If you'd like to learn more about this room, the guide will be happy to help you".

The guide walks into the room a couple of minutes after you've appeared there and stands patiently and very quietly in the corner. In many rooms there are chairs you can sit on while you're listening to your audioguide, and only some chairs are roped off because they are too old for the general public to sit on them.

The tour is designed in such a way that you proceed from the "everyday use" rooms like the dining room with the table fully set, a couple of drawing rooms with Victorian furniture and drapings, through the Throne room to the older rooms. The guides are really eager to help you. On the two thrones in the Throne room there are the monarchs' initials: GR, which obviously stands for Gerogius Rex (King George in Latin), and MR (the Queen's name and the first letter of the word Regina, "Queen" in Latin). I couldn't remember which of the Georges had a wife whose name started with an M, so I asked the guide when the thrones were made. He told me that they were made around 1922 for George V and his wife Queen Mary (do I hear you say "duh"?) and asked me whether I'd like to know what firm made them. Of course I said yes, so the guide took the rope off, walked to the thrones, brought back the Queen's footstool, turned it over and showed it to me. There was the label and the hallmark of some London firm which made the throne. I touched the hallmark and the footstool, thanked the guide and walked on through the long portrait gallery to the historical chambers.

The portrait gallery is interesting in itself. It is very long and the walls are hung with portraits of all Scottish kings. Now, the portraits look strikingly alike, and the audioguide tells you that they were all painted by one and the same artist and his task was not to convey the true looks of old kings, but to show that the reigning monarch (Charles II) was a true successor of the old Scottish kings, so every portrait looks a lot like Charles II.

From there you move on to the Royal Apartments. You go past the Queen's drawing room and then take a steep stair up through the room where Queen mary of Scot's private secretary was murdered. From there you get into Queen mary of Scots' bedchamber. The Royal Apartments are maintained in the same style as they used to be from the beginning, so the bedchamber reflects the yesra that mary spent at the French court in her youth. In the bedchamber you see some of Queen Mary's needlework and her scissors, as well as her purse. Then you get into a small museum, although every room is already a museum in its own right. The only thing that reminds you that this is a working royal residence and that the Queen actually lives there for a small part of the year is that the pictures there have no plaques under them, like you wouldn't really put up plaques underneath pictures in your own home. Now, this museum room is full of rather gruesome exhibits, such as a medallion with a lock of Queen mary's hair, a button in which you can see a tiny part of a handkerchief with the blood of the executed King Charles I etc. The room is darkish, but still you can spend hours there.

Telling about the other rooms would take up too much time. I am working on an article about Scotland now, so there you will find more information, stories and photos. What I'll say for now is when you leave the palace, you get to go past the Abbey. The Abbey was built in the 12th century and many Scottish kings are buried there, but since it was a catholic abbey, a riotous crowd destroeyd most of it in 1688, and the roof fell in in the 18th century, so now the Abbey is a picturesue ruin. From the Abbey you go through the palace garden (a small but still nice one), past the large white tents where the Queen had given garden parties just a few days before our arrival, and there you are, right next to the exit. You can do some shopping in the royal collection shop if you want, but to tell the truth, your head is still so full with the things you've just seen in the palace that you feel that a lunch in some quiet place would do it more good than any other activity.

Probably the most unexpected aspect of travelling abroad is culture shock. even when th eculture of the country you're travelling to is rather familiar to you, the chances still are that you are going to have a bit of a culture shock. And the less familiar the country is, the stronger the shock will be.

There are 4 stages(some people say there're 5) in any culture shock: the honeymoon stage, when you enjoy the difference and love every single moment of it. This stage normally lasts from several days to a couple of weeks, but then the excitement begins to subside. This is when the honeymoon stage gives way to rejection/withdrawal stage. What you loved at first - the different foods, the gestures, the customs - now begins to irritate you, because you now feel a bit like an outsider. The differences become more noticeable and less intriguing, whereas since you are not an insider, you are more likely to do something which will be offensive to insiders of the local culture or something which will be ineffective at best. This may lead to frustration and, in severe cases, a self-isolation from the frustrating experience.

If the rejcetion and misunderstanding is too strong, you can enter the next stage of the culture shock. At this stage (the depression and isolation stage) some people get so depressed that they decide to leave the country.

Fortunately, for those who do overcome the rejection stage, a new stage arrives sooner or later. This is the adjustment stage when you learn the intrinsic cultural issues and cease making blunders, and gradually begin to feel like at home in this new country. In a way it is a bit like the honeymoon stage because you enjoy the new culture again, but this time the enjoyment is not because the culture is new and different, but because you are becoming an insider, you do not make mistakes and you know your way about. Ideally, while teaching a foreign language AND culture we should be able to help our students learn to adjust, help them to see deeper and not judge a culture by only external, outward appearances, but rather understand why people do things in the way they do them.

When I was spending a year at an American university, I had excellent opportunities to observe culture shock and the adjustment process in different people. Since this was not my first time in the USA and I had had a lot of experience of daily communication with representatives of that culture, I was relatively free of culture shock. made quite a few friends among both the teachers and the students and could compare the first-time experience of my fellow-grantees without having to get distracted by myt own cultural struggles.

The two people I observed on a daily business was a young Russian woman from Uzbekistan and a young Azeri man from Azerbaidjan. To cut an otherwise long story short, I'll tell about the cultural shock and problems that the Azeri guy went through during that year. I will not name him to protect his provacy, though, and will refer to him as "the Azeri guy". Personally, we were friends and rented a flat together, but I have lost contact with him since that time and therefore cannot obtain his permission to give out his name in a comparative 'study".

1. Proxemics. The distance at which you stand from another person is culturally-dependent and differes in different countries. While Americans in smaller cities prefer to stand at least approximately 1.5 metres aways from each other while talking, the comfortable distance for Azeri guy was much shorter. He tried to stand closer, people would step back, so conversations often turned into a sort of a slow tango. Consequently, before he learned about distances and proxemics in general, Americans seemed very remote and cold to him. He, on the other hand, seemed to be constantly intruding on their personal space.

2. Dress code. Large university campuses are probably the most democratic and diverse places you can find when it comes to clothes. People wear what they like. I had a professor who is a big name in language testing, he used to wear shorts and a T-shirt to most of his classes, whereas some other professors would try to dress more elegantly than most of their students. An indispensable rule, however, is to wear something different every day, for example, if you're wearing jeans and a T-shirt one day, the next day you ought to wear a different T-shirt or different jeans/trousers/whatever. The Azeri guy, on the contrary, was used to dressing very conservatively and with little variation, so he wore the same suit and shirt for three or more days, although he did have enough other clothes.

3. Attitude to children. At a very early stage the Azeri guy was told to never touch other people's children. He was indignant, because in Azerbaidjan, according to him, when a man shows that he cares for children, it means that he is a sensitive and kind person. So in Azerbaidjan a man can pat someone else's child on the head or even give the child a kiss on the head, and this wins the man respect. In the USA such actions can lead to legal prosecution.

4. Visiting people. Once the Azeri guy was invited to an American family to Thanksgiving dinner. He asked me what would be a good present to take along, so I suggested he should take a bottle of wine or even some national dish that he could make himself so that the host family would be able to try something new and unusual. He made some dolma and when he returned, he was amazed and even shocked at how well the dish was received and how much attention was drawn to it. He explained to me, that in his country bringing food to other people's home can be taken as an insult to their hospitality, and if a man cooks something, this can be taken as an insult to his gender role.

The Azeri guy's honeymoon stage last for approximately two weeks, the frustration and adjustment stages took about 9 months and the "feeling at home" stage last only 2 months, which was way too short for such a long stay. At the end of the year he told me that he had only began enjoying himself and really learning something, because he had been struggling with culture shock all the time, seeing how people reacted in totally different ways from what he expected and how his best intentions were often misinterpreted.

Therefore I believe that having the potential culture shock in view while teaching, telling students how to overcome it can be an important part of language teaching and can help propel students' progress on their trips abroad, while culture shock can hamper it greatly. If you're interested, I could tell in more detail about some causes of culture shock in different cultures.

The quest for "the perfect textbook" is an endless and futile undertaking. It is endless because there are numerous textbooks all over the world, some are better, some are worse, but every day more and more textbooks appear. It is futile because no matter how good a textbook is, the degree of its efficiency and ease of use will greatly vary in different classroom, with different types of learners and in different classroom settings. One thing that is important, however, is who the target learners of the textbook are. This is crucial because if the target learners are defined correctly, the number of hours, the methodology, and, most importantly, the content becomes self-evident.

Throughout my teaching career of 13 years I have tried many different textbooks. And very gradually I've reached a conclusion which, I think, could be interesting for those who are only beginning to teach.

A textbook can be a global one. This means that it targets learners everywhere, all over the world. Such textbooks are based on the assumption that people are more or less the same everywhere, notwithstanding their cultural differences, and that more or less the same things are likely to arouse their interest. Although the covers and the methodologies in such textbooks can vary, their content and topics are very similar. Indeed, every time students are supposed to talk about environmental issues, they discuss tropical rainforests and pollution from large cars. Every time they study adverbs of place, it is a British (or, more rarely, American) house that they describe, as well as a typical street in an English town. When they talk about history, it is mainly English history that is discussed (although here I've seen some very welcome variation). The problem I see with such textbooks is that the world is a much larger place than just Britain, or Europe, or the USA. And our students need not only to be able to receive information about the world, but also to share stories about their own country and about their own lives. And they need to get enough of comprehensible input, speaking in S. Krashen's terms, to be able to acquire enough language to do that.

True communication happens not when one person adjusts his/her linguistic behaviour to that of his/her interlocutor, but when everyone in the conversation remains standing on the cultural position of his/her country and pays due respect to the cultural features of the interlocutor. From this point of view. learning only about one or two countries during the course of study is pointless. A more "culturally-aware" textbook would need to be localised, it needs to contain at least some information about the pupils' culture, history and country, otherwise instead of being representatives of their own country, they will fall into the trap of 'cultural imperialism" and will feel that there is only one 'correct" model of behaviour, that only certain interests and presumptions are correct or just interesting.

when I was using global textbooks in my classroom, I always felt that my own country was dramatically underrepresented there. Indeed, what information about Russia will you normally find in a global textbook? The same trite stories about matryoshkas, the taiga and at best some mention of Russia's size. Is that the kind of information a pupil needs to develop his/her cultural awareness, to understand the differences and similarities between his/her own and the target language's country's culture? I doubt it.

I firmly believe that to enable out students communicate freely, represent our country and assimilate foreign culture rather than replace their own with it, we need textbook that would provide basis for comparisons and lead to a better understanding of students' own culture through the target language country's one.

How can it be achieved? If we take a look at the currently most popular Russian EFL textbooks, we shall see that there are different ways to do it. For example, "Happy English.ru" is based on a story, where the main characters are a Russian boy and his Scottish friend (as well as plenty of secondary British characters). The story takes place in Russia, in England and in the USA, thus enabling the students to compare the three countries, to see what communication problems can arise there unless we take the cultural features into consideration and how we shall be interesting interlocutors only when we remain ourselves. Another advantage of those textbooks is that they promote common values that Russian students hould be able to appreciate and share with their foreign peers: freedom, democracy, friendship, willingness to compromise and to help each other. I am sure that by teaching such values we as educators help to build a brighter future for us all.

A slightly different approach is used in the "Enjoy English" textbooks, which constitute probably the most popular Russian EFL course there is. There the authors take us by the hand and let us read about British museums, sights, schools, public services etc. But every time we read, say, about London, we turn to our own hometowns and discuss what we could show to our foreign friends, what is good and interesting about the places we live in etc. Thus we elicit a lot of student-generated content, which they can use later on. I remember how I was teaching a class in which the pupils told me that they have no idea where they could take a foreign friends in our small town as "there is nothing interetsing or good about our place", they said. I changed the question slightly and asked the students what they like to do in the summer or on week-ends. And they told me immediately, that they like to go on walks in the shadowy alleys, that they love swimming in the river, that they play football at their school's sports ground, that we have one of the largest sugar plans in the country (a sight!), that they like to walk along an ancient fortification (another sight!) etc etc. After this discussion I once again asked them to make the programme of a three-day stay for a foreign friend, and this time they started to protest that three days are not enough to show a foreign friend all there is worth seeing inthe town. This change of attitude was made possible only by the leaner-centered approach and the exercises and stance of the "Enjoy English" textbooks. This has enabled me to develop a lot of self-respect and interest towards their own as well as the target language's culture in my students.

Yet another popular course is "Millie-New Millennium English". This course tries to get across the idea that there is something interesting in every country and culture. When pupils learn to talk about houses in their first year of studying English, they learn about igloos as well as typical houses in other countries. When they learn to talk about toys, they learn about the customs connected with toys, taht exist in japan and are celebrated on father's day and Mother's day there. And every time students talk about such things, they keep discussing what good things they'd like to introduce in their own country and what good things they could share with their foreign friends. When children grow up a little, the focus shifts slightly. At this age critical thinking needs to be developed, by which I mean that students need to be able to distinguish between fact and fiction, between what is good for them and not so good, and decide what they can do to make their own lives and their world better. They read about heroes and role-models from their own country and from other countries too, they read about a successful project which helped to make the otherwise dull town a tourist attraction and immediately they try to design a project to improve their own hometown, they read about traditions of different countries, and those of their own take about 50 per cent of the texts. This helps us to ensurethat students do not take all good things for granted, that they realise that often hard work is needed to build on any country's rich cultural heritage, but that their own background allows them to improve their own lives and be their own masters with due respect to other countries and cultures.

This is what I can say about the cultural and informational advantages of local textbooks as compared with the global ones. One could also talk about how a textbook should consider the students' first language and arrange grammar and vocabulary teaching accordingly. Localisation, or even better, creation of EFL books in and for specific countries help to design a better, more efficient textbook which makes the task of teaching English and educating students much easier for the teacher.

As you walk along the Royal Mile towards Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh there is a green-and-brown tavern/pub on your left. The tavern is called "Deacon Brody's" and the house is about 300 years old. On the wall there is a large board that tells the story of this tavern and Deacon Brody. Since this story is important for British literature, I think you may be interested to know it.

William Brodie (sometimes spelt as "Brody" was a cabinet maker and a deacon of a trade guild, so often he is referred to as "Deacon Brodie". In the 18th century Edinburgh he was a prosperous and respected man, so respected, in fact, that he was made a member of the burgh council and served on the jury as well. To better serve justice, he even designed and funded a gallows to be put up in the city.

But who was a respectable man in the daytime turned into a burglar and gambler at night. Since he was a very popular craftsman and locksmith, he was often invited to the homes of the richest people of Edinburgh to fix locks for them, which gave him excellent opportunities to see where the money was. At night he would disguise himself underneath a mask,, burgle the houses he had recently been called to, used copies of the keys he had made for the locks and take the money. His night-time "earnings" enabled him to gamble a lot, keep two mistresses and five children. When he was found out, he was condemned and hanged on the same gallows that he had so enthusiastically built. A legend has it that he tried to bribe the hangman and put a steel collar to escape the death by hanging, but the plan di dnot work.

Robert Louis Stevenson was so impressed by this man's adventures that he wrote his famous "The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". So this was deacon Brody's involuntary input in British literature. And somehow the dark stones of the old houses in the Royal Mile make it easy to believe the story.

Almost every British city has a High street. Every High street is the main shopping and often tourist area. Some High streets are longer, some are shorter, but only one such street is in fact a whole succession of several streets and is exactly one mile long, albeit a Scottish mile. This street is called "The Royal mile", you can find it in edinburgh, and it goest from the Castle Rock, on which Edinburgh Castle stands, all the way down to the palace of Holyrood House and the remains of Holyrood Abbey.

The Royal Mile is exactly one Scottish mile long. A Scottish mile is 1.8 km long, and such miles were used in Scotland until 1824. The buildings in the Royal Mile are old. Some of them are only slightly younger than the castle itself, so you can drop in a 300 years old shop or dine in a pub which dates back to 1500-s. You can tell the age of the buildings not only by their architectural styles, but also by the dark, sometimes black stones, some of them only roughly hewn, and by the narrow, winding passages that lead to the Royal Mile.

The Royal Mile is not all shops and pubs (by the way, do remind me to tell you about Deacon Brody's tavern, the gallows and the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). To the right of the Royal Mile, if you're standing with your back to the castle, in a broad street, there is "The Elephant", the pub in which JK Rowling wrote large portions of her harry Potter books. Right on the Royal Mile, looking majestic, is St. Giles High Kirk (cathedral), where the knights of the Order of the Thistle gather, presided by the Queen, in the oak-panelled Thistle Chapel. Facing the palace of Holyrood House is the Scottish Parliament, and although it is only a 300-metres walk from the palace, this year the Queen was driven there in a State limousine to make a speech on the occasion of the parliament''s 10th anniversary. I do not know whether the drive was due to the Queen's desire to show respect to the Scottish parliament, or because she was having a heavy cold in early July.

As I said earlier, the Royal Mile is comprised of several streets, which are Castle Esplanade, Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street, Canongate and Abbey Strand. Castle Hill, Castle Esplanade, lawnmarket together with the lower-lying Grassmarket are all parts of the Old Town of Edinburgh. As the name suggests, there is also a New Town, with beautiful Georgian houses. The New Town was built in the 18th century, so perhaps it is not quite so brand-new after all.

Visitors are admitted daily to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, when the Queen is not there. I will tell about this palace tomorrow, as, although it is part of the Royal Mile, it is a sight in its own right.

have you ever bought anything in a store and found, on return home, that it is not quite the thing you wanted? What do you do, try to use this thing anyway, since it's been paid for, or do you return it to the shop? While in Russia very often I think that returning something to the shop just isn't worth the effort, it can be done much easier in the UK and in the USA. The laws protect customers quite well, and there is customer satisfaction guarantee, which means that if you are not satisfied with what you've bought because you don't like the quality, or the colour, or the size doesn't quite fit, you can return it to the shop where you've bought it.

when it comes to chain stores, you can usually return the goods to other branches as well. When I was studying/teaching in the USA, I used to know a girl who would go shopping, bring loads of stuff from the store (mainly clothes), take a very close look at her purchases at leisure and then return most of them to the store. Very often, when she was travelling, she returned these things to other branches of the chain store where she bought them. The usual requirement is to have the packaging intact (that is, undamaged so that the item you're returning could be repacked and resold) and of course the good should be in the same condition as it was when you bought it.

Different shops have different return policy. For example, if you're buying something at a sale, these items are usually non-refundable, so you can not return them. This policy was probably introduced because many people buy far too many goods during teh sales period and in the end decide that they do not want them.

Some goods are non-returnable from the very beginning. Indeed, how could you return an opened bottle of medicine, or perfume or something of the kind? Reason and hygiene would not allow it.

Very often you can read the information on the receipt to see during which period you can return the item to the shop. For example, Waterstones (a large UK chain of book and music shops) allows you to return books and videos 21 days after the sales date. With other shops this period can be shorter or longer. Walmart, a famous American chain store, is famous not only for being probably the cheapest shop you can find, but also for accepting returns during very long times.

So if you've bought something in the UK or in the USA and feel that you do not really want this item, take it back to the store (or the local branch if it's a chain store) and you will get your money back, or, if you paid by card, the money will be transferred to your account.

One of the worst things about aiports is having to stand in long queues waiting to be checked in. Often, if you arrive at the aiport a little later than you should have, all the best seats are already taken and you may have to squeeze into the middle seat and remain crammed for the duration of the flight. Modern technologies provide a good way to deal with the queues and seating problems. You can always use a self-check-in terminal, if there company you're flying with provides such a service. With this terminal you can check in within minutes and also you can see for yourself which seats are still available and choose the one that you prefer. Not bad, eh? I've seen such terminals in Domodedovo, but they are not quite as efficient as the ones in many British airports. In Domodedovo you can currently check in through a terminal if you've got only carry-on (cabin) luggage. If not, you will still have to queue up to be checked in by the company's officer and have your luggage taken to the luggage compartment of the plane. In Britain the terminals work for you no matter how much luggage you've got on you. All you have to do is either type in your ticket confirmation code (for e-tickets, bought online), or swipe your passport through the scanner, or just type in the flight number and your name to get a boarding pass. Then you go on to the company's counter and drop your luggage there. Simple as that. When I was flying from Glasgow to London, all I had to do was type in my booking confirmation number, choose my seat and the borading pass was printed out by the machine. At the counter I showed the boarding pass and my luggage was taken and I was free to go through the security control and board the plane. Not once did I have to show my passport to anyone at all. So if you are flying somewhere and there are self-check-in terminals at the airport, my advice for you would be to use them as they'd save you a lot of time.

Years ago I used to hear from my English friends that food in Scotland is indigestible and not tasty at all. Every time I heard it I thought of English food and I couldn't possibly imagine how bad Scottish food must be if it was no good even as compared with English meals.This summer was my first chance to try a Scottish breakfast in Edinburgh and to see for myself whether my English friends were right.

A full Scottish breakfast differs from a full English breakfast only in a few details. It normally consists of eggs (fried, scrambled or boiled, the choice is yours), bacon (and bacon in Scotland is cut thicker than in England), a few mushrooms, fried whole, a spoonful or two of baked beans, a slice of black pudding (looks and tastes like a spicy blood sausage) and a bit of haggis. Since it was mainly haggis that I heard of as the worst bit of a Scottish meal, I was interested in trying it. Haggis is made from minced sheep's "pluck' (that is, liver, heart and lungs), onions, spices and the mixture is boiled in the sheep's stomach. The taste resembles a spicy liver sausage, only it has a harder texture. To tell you the truth, I found haggis quite tasty and often had it afterwards.

On its own, haggis can be served as a main course. In this case it is served with "neeps and tatties" (mashed turnips and potatoes, which come in layers" the bottom grey layer is haggis, the middle honey yellow layer is turnip, and the upper layer is mashed potatoes).

But another Scottish meal which impressed me was the traditional porrige with a "wee dram".

The most famous Scottish drink is whisky. You will find lots of local distilleries in Scotland, some are famous locally, others are well-known nationwide and internationally. And a 'wee dram" is a small shot of whisky ("wee" meaning "small" in gaelic). So porrige with a wee dram is in fact a bowl of porridge, served with cream and a small portion of whisky which you are supposed to put in your porridge. I had it only once, and decided that it really wasn't my cup of tea.

But all in all food in Scotland is lovely, if different from what we are used to in our country.

Scottish highlands are famous not onlyy for their mountains and wildlife, but also for their lakes. Practically anywhere you go in the south-west Scotland, you'll be near one loch (a lake) or another. But Scottish lochs do not look the same as Eastern European lakes. When we say the word "lake", as often as not we imagine a round or oval body of water, lying peacefully in a shadowy forest or in a very flat valley. In Scotland, for one thing, you'll hardly find a flat valley. What you do find is mountines, ravines, steep valleys, and the lochs are usually long and meandering. So you can drive along a loch for hours. For example, the famous Loch Ness is about 37 kilometres long and Loch Lomond is 39 kilometres long. So there is an abundance of fresh water in Scotland.

Apart from fresh-water lochs, there are plenty of seawater ones in Scotland. So unlike a lake, a loch may mean a body of eitherfresh or sea water. The shores of Scotland are famous for their cliffs and bays, sometimes going quite far inland, and the tide is particularly high there. Therefore when you see a loch in Scotland, you never know whether the water in it is going to be fresh or salty and if it connects to the sea, but whatever it is, all the lochs I've seen are immensely beautiful.

I am now travelling around Scotland. From the textbooks at the University and the books by Walter Scott I got an image of Scotland as some very dark, gloomy and not very happy country, with the history of the jacobute uprisings and the wars for independence lurking at the back of the mind together with the romantic history of the poor mary Queen of Scots. As it usually happens, the real life is different from the stereotypes. Edinburgh is a bustling city with lots of tourist shops, filled with fridge magnets, tartan and cashmere, the royal yaght Britannia and the palace of Holirood House are easily accessed without having to queue up, and the people ared incredibly friendly inspite of the articles about yobs and the overall moral degradation of teenagers that some newspapers love to publish.

The lake Loch Ness is beautiful but otherwise not very impressive. Long and narrow and surrounded by tiny villages, mentions of the monster and walking trails.

And the most beautiful part of Scotland is the Highlands. I've taken about 500 pictures so far and am surely going to take a couple hundred more before my flight to London. When I get back I will tell about the beauty of Scotland in my blog.

The seemingly easiest way to introduce ICT into the language classroom is to use specially-created learning software. The advantages of such software are obvious – the content and the tasks are already there, the teacher does not need to design any tasks of his/her own, the software can be used both in class and by individual students, and it is readily available in the market. But the situation is not really as brilliant as it seems to be, and sometimes disadvantages of such software may outweigh any potential advantages that it may have. Let’s look deeper into this issue.

Types of software and their features

First of all, there are different types of learning software. Among others, one can find skills-building software, which is aimed at building students’ vocabulary, or grammar, or listening, or reading skills. Usually such software includes only one type of skills, although more and more often one can find different skills sections on a single disc, e.g. such as grammar and pronunciation building program. Such programs are good for individual practice if they suit the student by the language and conceptual level. However, very often, as it would sometimes happen with a grammar-and-vocabulary course, the vocabulary is either too low-level or too high-level for the grammar exercises and thus creates problems rather than helps students to get rid of them. Besides, as these programmes are too focused on particular skills, they are not easy to apply in a classroom where students are expected to be equally making progress in all types of language skills.

Another example of learning software is exam preparation or testing software. Usually it takes the form of a set of electronic tests, which provide immediate feedback to the user and explain the peculiarities of a particular type of task or an entire exam. Numerous TOEFL Preparation CDs belong to this type of software. These programmes are useful mainly for those who wish to prepare for a particular exam and are not very suitable for pupils studying English for General Purposes.

Probably the most frequent type of learning software are ready study courses. Such programmes are, basically, courses of English which are supposed to be ready for studying. They are usually arranged around certain topics (like Travelling, Eating Out, Checking In a Hotel, Buying Tickets and so on), contain exercises for learning vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing and simulating speaking activities and are designed according specific language levels. Some courses include a variety of features, such as images, games, glossaries, voice record and playback option and short videos. Other courses include mainly dialogues together with their audio version, vocabulary, grammar and writing games and exercises, mock role plays when a programme pronounces certain phrases and the student has to insert suitable phrases in the gap, sometimes using a feature allows students to record their own speech and compare it to the bits recorded by native speakers. Again, very much like with skills training software, such courses are best for use by individual students, who can select and adjust their pace of work as they go along. Using these courses in the classroom frequently leads to problems, as often the content of these courses does not fit the federal standard and the federal programme, the topical vocabulary is different from what the students have in their textbooks, the order of learning grammar issues also differs from what there is in a textbook or from what is required by the federal standard and programmes. In short, such digital courses clash with the textbooks in vocabulary, grammar, level of difficulty and pace of study, and the teacher has to spend a lot of time and effort to select the contents which would suit the class and make studies more effective rather than leading to failures.

A more suitable for a general audience type of software is multimedia, specially designed to go with a particular textbook. On the surface level the advantages of such multimedia supplements are obvious: they fit the lexis and grammar of the textbook, they suit the students’ language level, they do not confront the conceptual level of the textbook, and the exercises on CDs support and expand the exercises in the textbook by providing more practice on varying levels.

On the other hand, though, there still is a number of aspects to consider while analyzing the supplement to decide how to use it most effectively.

What makes multimedia supplement effective?

Multimedia supplement is most effective when it:

• Follows the topics of the textbook, thus helping students to expand their understanding of the material that they are studying;

• Fits the vocabulary, grammar and language level of the book, providing extra practice in the subject matter;

• Contains multi-level exercises so that both the more and the less-successful students would benefit from using the supplement;

• Provides various features that can not be included into the textbook: videos, animated cartoons, sounds, interactive games, puzzles, tests, other exercises for interactive practice;

• Provides instant feedback to students so that they know whether they have been successful in doing an exercise or a test. Some multimedia supplement rely on the teacher to give feedback to the students, which, instead of increasing learner autonomy, make the students even more dependent on the teacher, which is hardly effective from the point of view of applying ICT to teaching EFL;

• Contains additional resources, such as additional exercises, information, access to online resources (which is relevant only unless the textbook itself has a support website);

• Can be easily built into the learning process both on technology (that is, be used with a single computer and a data projector plus a smartboard if required, used in a computer classroom or by the students individually as part of their homework) and on methodology level (contains clear and concise instructions for the students on what to do and how to do the exercises);

• Helps the teachers to save time and better organize study process (that is, contains a detailed teacher’s guide which explains the overall uses and objectives of the supplement and contains instructions and recommendations for every single exercise, together with information on how they can be best fit into the lesson), contains a class management system;

• Is easy to use due to an intuitively understandable interface and does not require installation of any additional software or access to the internet to do the exercises.

The following checklist can help teachers to analyse learning software and easily decide if they want to use it in their classroom:

Analysing for Focus on Questions to consider How to find out

Target audience Age and level of students 1. What level of English is this software for?

2. What age of students is it meant for?

3. Are the instructions and tasks formulated clearly enough for your students to easily understand them? Check the annotation on the cover. Run a demo of the software to see if it suits your students.

Educational objectives Type of software and its objectives 1. What type of software is it? Is it a skills trainer? Is it meant for exam practice? It is an independent course? Is it a multimedia supplement to a textbook?

2. What is it supposed to prepare students for? Check the annotation on the cover. Check the index (the contents) page of the main menu of the programme. Run a random lesson to see what its objectives are.

Usability Equipment needed and technical difficulty/ease of the software 1. Does it need any extra software to be installed?

2. What equipment is needed can it be used only with a smartboard? Will it work if you have only a standalone computer and a data projector? Do you need a computer classroom to use it? Can it be used by individual students at home?

3. Does it require internet connection or special registration/activation key?

4. Can it run in a network, or does it have to be installed individually on each and every computer?

5. Do you need to obtain a license for using it on several computers?

6. Does the manufacturer provide technical support?

7. Is the interface (the layout of the screens and the elements on the screens like buttons etc) clear and understandable? Check the technical requirements information on the cover.

Check the booklet/inlay to see if it contains an activation key or any information on licensing.

Check the cover, the booklet/inlay for technical support contact information/website.

Content and features Content of the programme and what it can do 1. What features of the programme make it different from a textbook?

2. What type of resources does it contain? Does it contain videos, sounds, interactive images?

3. What type of exercises does it contain? Does it contain multi-level exercises? Does it contain interactive texts, quizzes, tests?

4. What skills does it focus on? Does it contain reading, listening, writing and speaking exercises?

5. Does it contain information and tasks for project work/case studies etc?

6. Does it increase learner autonomy through exercises for independent work, exploration and instant feedback? Check the booklet/inlay for information. Run a random lesson to see what it includes.

Management of the study process Information for teachers and students 1. Does the software include teacher’s guide in the booklet/inlay or on the disc?

2. Is the teacher’s guide written in clear, concise language?

3. Is there enough information in the guide on what stages of the lesson to use the software at?

4. Does the guide include pictures or video instructions that explain how to use the software?

5. Does the guide contain recommendations on how to use every single exercise?

6. Is the software fully compatible with your textbook and easy to build into your lessons?

7. Does the software include a Class Management System? Check the booklet/inlay for information. Run a random lesson to see what it includes.

This checklist may help you to analyse learning software and foresee most of the potential problems that you can face as a teacher. However, the importance of each of these issues is more visible when applied to a concrete example. Let’s do a case study of some learning software.

Learning software – a case study

The software we are going to study is called “Enjoy Listening and Playing 2”. We are going to quickly go over all the questions in the checklist, answer them and then decide whether this software is suitable for your classroom.

Target audience:

1. What level of English is this software for? – Beginner to elementary.

2. What age of students is it meant for? Grade 2 of Russian schools – 1-8 years old.

3. Are the instructions and tasks formulated clearly enough for your students to easily understand them? – The tasks are in Russian, written in simple language, formulated in the same words throughout the entire disc which makes them easy to understand for students. The instructions are written in white letters at the bottom of each screen. Besides, there is a button marked “?”, which makes more detailed instructions appear on the screen. Students should easily understand them.

Educational objectives:

1. What type of software is it? Is it a skills trainer? Is it meant for exam practice? It is an independent course? Is it a multimedia supplement to a textbook? – The software is a multimedia supplement to the “Enjoy Englis” Grade 2 textbook, as it says on the cover.

2. What is it supposed to prepare students for? – The main objectives of this software is to practise students’ listening and reading skills, with the main focus on interactive listening. Another objective is to help students memorise and practise vocabulary and grammar.

Usability:

1. Does it need any extra software to be installed? – No, no extra software is needed, the program will run “as is” on any computer, no installation is required.

2. What equipment is needed can it be used only with a smartboard? Will it work if you have only a standalone computer and a data projector? Do you need a computer classroom to use it? Can it be used by individual students at home? – This program can be used both with a standalone computer and a data projector, with a computer, data projector and a smartboard, in a computer class or individually by students on their PCs at home. Thus the programme is pretty universal in usability.

3. Does it require internet connection or special registration/activation key? – No, no internet connection or special activation key is necessary in this version.

4. Can it run in a network, or does it have to be installed individually on each and every computer? – One disc can be run in a class network without having to be installed on every single computer.

5. Do you need to obtain a license for using it on several computers? – Unless you use one disc for the class network, you need to have a separate disc for each computer.

6. Does the manufacturer provide technical support? – Two websites are listed on the cover as providing internet-support.

7. Is the interface (the layout of the screens and the elements on the screens like buttons etc) clear and understandable? – The interface is intuitively understandable. There are instructions on how to use the buttons on the inlay and in the teacher’s guide.

Content and features:

1. What features of the programme make it different from a textbook? – Although the programme is built on the audio from the textbook, it consists of fully interactive exercises, animated cartoons and contains additional exercises for extra practice to add to those you can find in the textbook.

2. What type of resources does it contain? Does it contain videos, sounds, interactive images? – The programme contains animated cartoons, sounds, interactive images, interactive listening tests and exercises.

3. What type of exercises does it contain? Does it contain multi-level exercises? Does it contain interactive texts, quizzes, tests? – The programme contains interactive listening exercises and tests.

4. What skills does it focus on? Does it contain reading, listening, writing and speaking exercises? – The programme focuses mainly on listening exercises, but also contains a large number of reading and some writing exercises. With most of the exercises students need to repeat new words and phrases, thus practising their pronunciation and speaking skills.

5. Does it contain information and tasks for project work/case studies etc? – Although the programme contains extra exercises, there are no project tasks as enough of such tasks are used in the textbook.

6. Does it increase learner autonomy through exercises for independent work, exploration and instant feedback? – The exercises provide instant feedback and can be done independently by learners. The programme will repeat words, phrases and dialogues as many times as needed until the learners get them right. Every timea learner does an exercise correctly, he/she gets a visual bonus (a short animated cartoon) which motivates learners to do the exercises.

Management of the study process:

1. Does the software include teacher’s guide in the booklet/inlay or on the disc? – The software contains a detailed teacher’s guide on the disc. The guide is in pdf format and can be viewed either on the screen or printed out for reference.

2. Is the teacher’s guide written in clear, concise language? – The guide is written in clear, concise language and is easy to understand.

3. Is there enough information in the guide on what stages of the lesson to use the software at? – The guide contains a description of the overall goals and objectives and use of the software as well as recommendations on what stages of the lessons the exercises can be best used.

4. Does the guide include pictures or video instructions that explain how to use the software? – The guide contains pictures and screenshots that make it very easy to understand.

5. Does the guide contain recommendations on how to use every single exercise? – The guide contains detailed recommendations for each and every exercise.

6. Is the software fully compatible with your textbook and easy to build into your lessons? – The software is fully compatible with “Enjoy English” Grade 2 textbook, the information in the Teacher’s Book and in the Teacher’s guide on the disc is enough to allow it to be easily built into the lessons or to be used by students for homework.

7. Does the software include a Class Management System? – No, this version of the software does not have a Class Management System. But it looks like ot does not need one either.

Well, here we start!

Blogging in ELT is a fairly new issue in Russia, therefore I am going to try and research its advantages, explore the opportunities it opens to students and teachers alike and try to fand ways out of potential problems and setbacks.

I intend to keep this blog in English as this will help to better achieve one of its goals, namely, practise English as well as share ideas on ELT methodology.

So, how can blogging be useful for students and teachers? First of all, it takes some workload off the teacher's shoulders. Instead of giving tasks to students, collecting those tasks and minding the deadlines, a teacher can just start a blog, post tasks there and write by what date and time the response has to be given. The students post their responses online, and the teacher can easily see the date and time of their response. In this way we can save ourselves and the students the trouble of writing their response on a sheet of paper, handing it in, carrying it home and bringing it back to school when checked. Also, a student's work cannot get lost in this way.

Grading students' work becomes easier through a blog. A teacher just posts a response and can copy and paste the phrases that have mistakes in them or just need to be paraphrased or corrected in any other ways.

Students can take part in peer correction or working on a topic/project together by collaborating online in the comments to a blog. Such a online discussion has the benefit of students'' having extra time to think, collect and present their arguments in a logical manner, and the teacher can easily assess each student's work as everyone contribution is visible and written down. By working with a blog each teacher can collect portfolios for her/his students without having to mess around with paper and cardboard or plastic folders.

Privacy may be one of the issues here. A teacher can screen or unscreen any comments to any posting in the blog at any time, thus making some of the writing visible or invisible as the lesson plan requires.

Blogging is a good way of making studies inclusive for students who are on a sick leave and cannot attend the class. We have been increasingly creating and developing materials for our lessons with computers, so it is just as easy to put some materials online for the students as well as bring them to the class.

Of course, not everything is perfect in this world. To be able to use blogs, both the teacher and the students need to have a regular access to the internet. However, more and mre students have such access these days and they are normally more motivated to do something on the internet rather than write anything by hand. Of course, the bulk of teaching still has to be done in class and sometimes in one-on-one lessons, but nevertheless, a blog can be an interesting expansion of the classroom work both for the teacher and for the students.

I would be very interested in reading your comments on these ideas. Has anyone got a personal blog on blogspot, or livejournal or elsewhere? How comfortable are you with putting your ideas online and providing access to them? Would you be willing to try this activity with your students? Here are some possible suggestions of what can be done using a blog:

1. Project work. Each of the students has to do his or her own part of the project. The task is put online in the blog. The students do research, find materials and publish them as comments to the blog entry. In this way the teacher can easily see how much of the project has already been done, and the students can see what else needs doing. Then as a separate entry, the project is put together and published online for every student to see it.

2. Written assignments. The teacher gives an assignment (e.g. "Write a letter" or "write an essay" ) with detailed explanation of what needs to be done, and the students post their responses as comments to the blog entry.

3. Discussions. Some students are very reluctant to participate in discussions in class, and some of them just haven't got enough time for it as they need more time to formulate their arguments or put their ideas in good English. Therefore a teachers can ask his/her students to present their arguments as comments to a blog entry. Each of the students can be asked to give only arguments for or arguments against. True, this is very much like what we do in class ever so often, but this "delayed" conversation gives students more time to think and do their research and deals with the stress of having to speak in front of the class. Besides, arguments can be edited at any time, thus leaving the way to perfection (or at least improvement) open for the student. Some of my colleagues who keep educational blogs, tell that this activity very quickly becomes a favourite with older students, and younger students like it because it allows them to be as creative as they like since this can be used as a preparatory stage for a big classroom discussion.

There are some other ways of using internet resources and ICT for teaching English at school, and I'll be looking into them closer in my next entries.