TOEIC Exam Problems and Solutions

I can get the score I need when I do TOEIC practice tests at home, but in the real test I am so nervous that I do really badly

First of all, make sure that your practice test conditions at home are really like the test: completed in the set time with no breaks, no background music, no snacking etc. Doing a practice test in a class or a public library, rather than at home can help in making it more realistic. You can also try to reflect the extra difficulty of a real exam by setting the time limit for the practice tests at slightly less than the exam time. Any techniques you can use to cope with stress more generally can also help, e.g. getting used to stressful situations like public speaking in a debating club, competitive chess or acting. Learning relaxation techniques like deep breathing could also help, as could making sure you eat the right foods and get the right amount of exercise and sleep in the days before the exam.

I\'m so tired by the time I reach the final reading section of the TOEIC that I can\'t concentrate and get almost no marks in this section

Apart from making sure you leave no blanks and therefore guess whatever questions you haven\'t had time to do in the last couple of minutes of the test, the solution to this problem can be different for different people. One solution is simply to do the reading paper in reverse, doing the long reading sections at the end of the TOEIC Reading paper when you have the power and leaving the shorter language based questions at the beginning of the paper until the end. The problem then could be that you run out of time before you get to do all of the sections near the beginning, and so miss out on some easy marks. If you are a lower level student, it might be best just to concentrate on the questions near the beginning and just take any extra marks you get from the later sections as a bonus, always remembering that some of the questions are designed to be impossible for all but the very best students and so are best just to guess and move on.

I always run out of time during the test

Don\'t worry- most people have this problem! There are, however, some techniques that can help you do more of the test before you have to just guess the last few. One thing is to know how much time you should spend on each section, and to discipline yourself to move on after that time and come back later. A more difficult skill is to learn to spot the questions that are far too difficult for you and should be skipped, and which ones you will be able to do if you spend a little time on them. One way to practice this at home is to take a quick look at all the questions in one section of a TOEIC practice test and try to guess which one is easiest. Try that question and check your answers. Continue in the same way with all the other questions, and check whether the ones you chose first because you thought they were easy were actually the ones you got right.

I always run out of time during the last section of the TOEIC Reading paper

This is a common problem! The most vital skill for this section, and something that can really help you read English in your working life, is to be able to quickly find the part of the text with the information you need to answer that question, and then read only that part. You can practice this by underlining the important parts in the text when you check your answers after doing a practice test.

I miss half the listening questions because I am still thinking about the previous question

This is easy to do but very important to avoid. Although you might be able to find the time to think about the answers to previous questions at some points like when the tape is explaining instructions you already know, there are no second chances on actually hearing the listening text. When the next listening text starts, mark clearly that you are leaving the last question 100% until later by, for example, turning the page or putting your pencil on the question you are about to listen to. To make sure you still remember any questions you were unsure about when go back and think about them again, make sure you have made some notes such as question marks next to the two questions you need to choose between (strictly, writing on your question paper is not allowed in the exam, but in practice students never get told off for doing it- just write as little and as lightly as you can).

I find the TOEIC Listening section is much more difficult than the Reading section

If you want to develop your listening skills and bring them up to the level of your reaching skills, the first thing you need to do is work out what part of listening is the most difficult for you. Do you understand, but too slowly to answer the questions before the next listening text starts? In that case, you need to revise the language you already know and speak English as much as possible. When you read the tapescript after doing the listening, do you find that you can understand it perfectly when you read it? If so, you need to learn the pronunciation of the words you know and study how words are linked together in fast speech. When you read the tapescript, do you find there are one or more words that you don\'t understand at all that stop you answering the question? If so, you need to expand your vocabulary by reading something written for someone of your level like a graded reader, and checking words with a dictionary after you finish- making sure you also learn the pronunciation by writing it in phonemic script or listening to the CD of a graded reader.

I find the beginning of each TOEIC paper okay, but by the end I am getting almost no answers right

Don\'t worry- the test in designed to become more difficult as you go through it, and so most of the questions that are written especially to be impossible for someone of a lower or intermediate level will be near the end. All you can do on the day is try to pick out the questions you do have a chance of answering, and guess the rest. For some people, however, it is more a case of lack of energy and concentration at the end of the test than language knowledge. If that is the case, make sure you have plenty of practice sitting through a whole timed test and that you eat and drink things with lots of complex carbohydrates (e.g. starchy things like potatoes and pasta) before the test, rather than sugars that will give you a boost at the beginning but whose energy will be used up long before the end.

In the multiple choice questions, I can narrow the options down to two but then I just have to guess

First of all, for many people getting 50% of the multiple choice questions right is enough, so it might not be a big problem depending on the score you need and you are certainly using the right technique in eliminating the answers you know are wrong. As one of the answers is usually obviously wrong (you can even sometimes guess it is incorrect without reading the text), getting it down to two or three is fairly common. Sometimes the final choice of a right answer depends on vocabulary that you don\'t know, and there is nothing to do but guess. However, there are some things worth looking out for that could help:
1.      Does one of the options refer to something in the wrong part of the text, e.g. in a different part of the text to the other 3 options? In that case it is probably not the right option.
2.      Is the meaning of a word in one of the options different to the meaning of the word in the text, e.g. "have" in the text means "have got" and "have" in the question means "take" as in "have/ take a break"? In that case it is wrong.
3.      Can you guess the meaning of the word you don\'t understand from its use elsewhere in the text? Even if you can\'t understand it completely, you might be able to see if it is positive or negative; if it is a noun, adjective, verb etc; if it is a kind of document, machine or workplace etc. This could help you when you guess the answer.

I can find the right information in the reading texts, but I still can\'t understand it and answer the questions

Although this can occasionally be due to not fully understanding a grammatical form (e.g. the difference in meaning between the Present Simple and the Present Continuous), for most people their understanding of grammar is much better than their ability to produce it and the main thing holding them back in the reading is vocabulary. You will need to spend at least a few months improving your General English and Business English by reading, studying a textbook, joining a class etc.

My score increased suddenly but now has gone flat

It may be that the initial boost in your score was due to learning a few exam tips or suddenly remembering all your English because you started studying it again after many years. Unfortunately, there is no way to learn new language as quickly as you remember old language or to give a whole year of useful exam tips and exam training. Instead, you will need to put move onto putting in the time and effort to get your English up to the next level. On the bright side, many students find their English can take another unexpected jump up after many months or even years at only improving at a modest rate, for example by reaching the level where you can read newspapers or understand English songs for the first time and so boosting the amount of English you have access to. If your problem is that the level of materials you are studying are not high enough to boost your level but the next level is too high and makes you tired and confused, try alternating, for example, materials written for native speakers and materials written for language learners.

My score increased suddenly but now has gone back down

Having a temporary drop in your English level despite studying a lot can often be because your mind is busy learning new language and so is slowed down when trying to access old language. If you have at least 3 months before your next test this problem usually sorts itself out naturally and you are probably doing the right thing to get to the next level in the long term by pushing yourself. However, you might want to try one of these things:
1.      Check that you are actually studying something at the next level, rather than studying something that you should leave until next year. For example, are you really ready to read and/ or listen to books, radio etc. for English native speakers, or would you learn more from studying something at an Upper Intermediate level like a graded reader first?
2.      Try taking a break from the new stuff and just revising or just completely resting for a while, and you will find you can use the language you know much more fluently than when your head was tired and confused with lots of new language
3.      Maybe general mental alertness is your problem. Time spent sleeping, exercising, eating healthy or doing brain training exercises might be just as beneficial in the short term as studying more language

My TOEIC score keeps on jumping up and down

If the change is only around 30 to 40 points, this may simply be because you have been lucky or unlucky in the questions that have come up or the ones you have guessed. If you have taken 4 or more TOEIC tests, you should still be able to draw a graph to show you whether the general trend is up, flat, or even down. Apart from sheer luck, things that can have this effect and you can control include:
-          Tiredness from excessive work, cramming before an exam, studying too many other subjects at the same time as TOEIC, lack of general health, too much or too little exercise etc.
-          Sleepiness in the exam due too much or too little food, time of day etc. If you are a morning person or an evening person, time of day in particular can have a big impact.
-         
By the time I hear the listening questions I have forgotten what they said

Even some native speakers have to concentrate in order to not have this problem when trying TOEIC exam questions. Especially for students with quite a high level who can lose concentration if the questions are too easy, it is worth spending some time on developing your short term memory of language, and your short term memory more generally. Techniques include listening to a TOEIC listening without the questions and writing down as much as you can of what you heard and then checking it against the tapescript, then seeing how much of that listening you can still remember after doing the same with the next question. General brain training on your Nintendo DS can also help, but make sure you are doing this outside the time you have put aside for English practice.

Classroom language when using the board

Useful classroom language for teachers while using the board
When you are using the board is a critical time to make sure you use lots of interesting and relevant language, as the students are often passive while the teacher is writing on the board and the teacher has their back to the class and so can't make eye contact with the students to get their attention and check that they are understanding. The fact you are doing something and speaking about it also means that students can understand what you are saying from the context and so should learn the language you are using by watching and listening.

Useful vocabulary connected to the whiteboard or blackboard
(A box of/ a piece of) chalk
Board marker/ board pen
Permanent marker (= the kind you mustn't use on the board!)
Blu tack/ sellotape
Reflection
Chalk dust
Board eraser/ board rubber
To erase/ to rub off/ to wipe off/ clean the board
Leave something on/ up
To run out
To wash off
Pen cap
Magnets
OHP (= overhead projector)
Projector
A/ one/ this/ that section/ part/ bit/ side
Top left corner/ bottom right corner (of the board)
The centre/ middle (of the board)
The top half/ bottom half (of the board)
The right hand side/ left hand side (of the board)
The right hand column/ left hand column/ middle column/ second column (from the left)

Before you start writing
"Okay, I'll write the answers for exercise B on the board (as we check them)"
"Shout out any adjectives you can think of, and I'll write them on the board"
"I'm only going to write the words I think are difficult, so please ask me if you have any other questions"

Explaining what you are writing
"The red pen is the meaning of the tense, the part written in black is the name of the tense, and the blue part is the typical mistake/ [If you always use the same colour code] What does the red part (always) mean? And the black part? Good!"
"The right hand column is the object, the middle column is the verb, and the column on the left is the subject"
"This symbol means 'not equal' and this symbol means 'opposite'"
"'Adj' stands for adjective"
"This upside down 'e' letter is called 'schwa'. It's the last sound in 'computer'"
"The part of the sentence in brackets is optional"
"The part in capital letters/ italics is the part of the sentence that needs to be corrected"
"The underlined part is the part that usually stays the same"

Eliciting things onto the board
"What's the next word?"
"Can anyone give me an example sentence?"
"What's this sound? Where is it on the phonemic chart poster?"

While you are at the board
"While I'm cleaning the board/ writing this up, can someone/ everyone take out your books/ move the tables back/ pass out these worksheets?"

Checking
"Can everyone read that? What about the people at the back?"
"Is my writing big enough?"
"Don't be shy. I know my handwriting is awful, so tell me if you can't read anything"
"Is that colour okay?"
"Please tell me if the reflection on the board is a problem"
"Do you know what this word means?"
"Can I wipe that off now?"
"Has everyone finished copying it down?"
"Have you finished with this part? Can I erase just this section?"

Adding extra information
"Let me give you an extra example."
"I'll write the phonemic symbols on to help you"
"Let me mark every syllable as well as the main stress. That should help"

Asking students to copy things down
"Can you copy (just) the table into your notebooks?"
"You don't have to copy everything down, just whatever you really think is important"
"The parts I have underlined/ circled will probably be in the exam, so I suggest you write those bits down"
"No translations! Copy the English explanations and examples from the board!"
"There's no need to copy this down, it's all in your books. (We'll have a look at it later)"
"I'll give you time to copy it all down later"

Referring to the board later
"We don't say 'He do', do we? Have a look at the examples on the board."
"You will probably have noticed that the answers to the first two questions are already on the board"
"The example sentences from earlier all refer to the pictures in your book. Match the pictures there with the sentences on the board"
"You can use the information on the board to fill in the table in your books/ to correct the sentences on the worksheet"

Dealing with people who can't see
"Can you see the board better when I turn this light off?"
"Do you think closing the blinds/ curtains might help?"
"Maybe if you sat nearer the front..."
"Is it better if I use a black pen instead of a red one?"
"Okay, I'll try to write bigger."

Drawing their attention to things you have written up when they weren't looking
"The answers to that exercise are written up on the board mixed up to help you."
"I've written the rules of the game up on the board"
"This bit up here is the instructions for the listening task. Please do this, and not the task in your books"
"Here are some useful phrases you can use while you are playing the game"

Dealing with other problems
"Whoops, (I) dropped my pen!"
"Oh dear, (I) didn't mean to erase that part!"
"Sorry, I've mixed up the two meanings of 'will'. This one is a prediction and this one is a spontaneous intention. Can you change that in your books?"
"I'll just check the spelling of that word in my dictionary."
"You're right! I always have problems spelling that word"
"Can someone go to the staffroom and get me some more pens/ chalk?"
"I've lost the board rubber/ pen cap. Did anyone see where I put it?"
"There doesn't seem to be a board eraser. Does anyone have any tissue I can borrow?"
"Some idiot has used permanent marker on the board. Sorry about his, but we'll just have to use the right hand side for today"

If students are using the board
"Don't worry; this kind of pen will wash right off"
"You've got pen on your fingers. Do you want to go to the bathroom and wash it off?"
"You've got chalk dust on the back of your skirt. There's just a little bit left. Can someone help her brush it off?"
"Sorry, can you write a little bit bigger? Some people at the back can't see."
"Can anyone help Janet spell that word?"
"Can you pass the pen to the next person?"
"A little bit higher/ lower/further to the right"

Classroom language to explain games that use the board
Game 1- Board Race

• "From here" [cutting between two people with two arms out straight in front of you and your palms together] "to here" [sweeping your right arm over the heads of the people to your right] "is team A. From here" [chopping in the same place] "to here" [sweeping your left arm over the heads of the people to your left] "is team B."
  
• [Draw a line down the centre of the board]. "I want team A to stand in a line in front of this half of the board" [standing facing team A in front of the half of the board on their left in the spot where you want the first person to stand, move both arms out in front of you to indicate the direction of the line they will stand in]. Okay? Understand? Right, stand up. Go! A bit more straight at the back. Good. Can the person at the front go a bit further forward? Great"
  
• "Now here" [standing in front of the half of the board on their left, facing team B] "I want...? That's right, team B, to stand in... Yes, a straight line. Got it? Okay, let's go."
  
• "So, this side of the board is... Good, team A" [write 'Team A' at the top of their half of the board] "And so this half must be...? You got it!" [write 'Team B' on the other half]
  
• "The blue pen is for team A" [give the board pen to the person at the front of the line] "and the green pen is for team B"
  
• "The first person writes one word at the top of the board" [pretend you are writing something there with their pen] "then passes the pen back" [mime actually passing the pen back over your shoulder to the next person in the line] "and then runs to the back of the line" [mime doing that] "Then the next person...? Good. The next person writes a word. And then? And then they pass. The word is 'pass'. Good. Pass the pen to the next person, and then? That's right. Run to the... What's the opposite of front? Behind? Good, that's also the opposite of front, but I need another word. What's this part of your body? That's right, back. So, the person runs to the... good, back of the line. And so on. Are you with me so far?"
  
• "So, can one person write many words?" [mime covering the whole board with writing] "That's right. No, they can't." [gesture for no, e.g. wagging finger or making cross sign with your arms] "How many words can they write? Good, one. The other people in the team can help you, for example by shouting out" [gesture for shouting, hands around wide open mouth]
  
• "Right. So the words I want you to write today are irregular simple past verbs. Can anyone give me an example? For example, give, mmmmmm, given. Gave! Good. Any more examples like that. Needed? Almost. That is the past, but because it's just plus ed we call it "regular simple past". Do you remember, we studied that last week? Yes, is it coming back to you now? Okay, so, give gave, see...? Saw, good. Any more? No, not wanted, that's regular. Went, perfect. Right, so I think you are ready. Have you got your pens? Ready, steady. Ah, wait for it! Go!"
  

The advantages and disadvantages of eliciting in the EFL classroom

The advantages and disadvantages of eliciting in the EFL classroom

... and how to exploit the advantages and avoid the disadvantages

Few skills that TEFL teachers learn seem more unnatural when you first do it and then more difficult to drop once you have developed the habit than eliciting- trying to get all the language and other answers from the students before you finally give them the solution. There are advantages and disadvantages to eliciting, and looking at these should help both the beginning teacher who hasn't picked up the skill yet and the experienced teacher who has started to use it automatically without thinking about when and how they should do so.

The advantages of eliciting in the EFL classroom

1. Eliciting keeps the students alert
   

Even the best students will find their minds wandering occasionally if there is someone at the front of the room speaking, especially if what is being said is a grammar explanation in a foreign language. If they are contributing to that stage of the lesson or at least know that they could be called upon at any time, there is far less chance that a missing item on their shopping list or something that their ex-girlfriend said to them could drift into their minds. Ways of exploiting this include choosing people at random rather than just going along the row and mixing this up with giving a general question for the whole class to shout out their answers to. You can combine these by taking the suggestion of one student and asking the whole class if they agree or having anything to add.

1. Eliciting helps you realise if the students are listening and understanding or not
   

If you say "The Present Perfect is used to talk about things connecting the present and the past", there is no way at that stage of knowing if the students have understood what you said (even if they were listening!) If you say "What do these Present Perfect sentences have in common?" or "What's the difference between these Simple Past and Present Perfect sentences?" instead, a lack of an answer makes it likely that they are not listening or are not following you (but see below for other possible reasons), and a correct answer makes it clear that they are alert and with you in your explanation. If that answer has only come from one person, you will need to make sure everyone else has understood as well with concept checking questions or further elicitation of example sentences etc.

1. Eliciting helps you find out what they already know
   

By starting with easy questions and working your way towards more difficult ones, you will be able to boost their confidence with the first ones and realise the limits of their knowledge once their answers start to become incomplete or wrong. Finding out what students do and don't know will also help you spend lesson time on the most important things, and help you plan future lessons with that in mind. There is the danger that you will only find out the limits of the knowledge of some of the students, or that you will underestimate their knowledge because they know but are not saying or they know but haven't explained themselves well. You can partly overcome these problems by monitoring body language and making sure everyone speaks.

1. Elicitation can mean more student talking time (STT)/ cut down on teacher talking time (TTT)
   

The fact that students are responding to almost everything you say in almost every stage of the lesson should mean that they are speaking more often than they would be if they just listening to an explanation by the teacher. This effect can be increased if you can get them commenting on what the other students say in the eliciting stages. Choosing your questions carefully can also help, e.g. by using Wh- questions rather than Yes/ No questions and by asking questions that have many different correct answers ("Open questions") rather than ones where you are just looking for one particular answer. This last tip should also cut down on your speaking time by meaning that you don't have to say "Good, but I was looking for a different word. What do you call...?" One example of this is to brainstorm all the vocabulary they know in a particular category rather than just defining the one piece of vocabulary you are looking for. Another is to ask "What does the Second Conditional mean?" rather than "Is the Second Conditional used to talk about real things?"

1. Eliciting helps students learn how to guess
   

Communicating in real time is a continual process of guessing- trying to predict what people are going to say, trying to work out their attitude by their tone of voice and body language, etc etc. Many students lack this skill or are shy about using it in the foreign language classroom, and getting them used to guessing the answer to almost everything you say by eliciting can really help with this. To make sure they are happy to make a guess when you are eliciting, you'll need to give positive feedback for any kind of contribution ("Very imaginative, but I meant something a bit more everyday"), standing close to people with quiet voices when they answer so that they don't misinterpret not hearing them as lack of understanding, and asking questions that have many possible correct answers.

1. They can learn/ be exposed to useful incidental language during elicitation
   

Incidental language is language that you don't teach but still hope that students pick up during their interactions in the classroom. Phrases they should learn how to understand and then maybe go on to be able to use (or at least be ready to learn consciously when they come up in the syllabus) from elicitation include "What does... mean?" "How do you spell...?" "What is this sound?" and "What's the difference between ... and ...?"

1. Elicitation can show them how to work things out for themselves
   

This is really just an aspect of the point above. Telling students that "Obstruction is the noun of obstruct" is obviously quick and might even be listened to and understood, especially if you write it up on the board in some way at the same time. However, there is often a reason to take the time to elicit with "What kind of word is 'action'?... A noun, good. And what word does it come from? I mean, is there a similar word that is an adjective, an adverb, a verb etc that is similar? Try taking off some of the letters towards the end... 'Act', good! What kind of verb is 'act'? We say 'He is acting', so what kind of word is it in that sentence?... 'V'. Sure, that's right, that's what it says in your dictionary. 'V' stands for 'verb'. So, 'act' is the verb and 'action' is the noun. Okay, so let's go back to 'obstruct' and 'obstruction.'..." This is a rather long example but I believe even this could be worthwhile because it has taught students some useful grammatical terminology and, more importantly, shown them how to analyse word formation for themselves.

The possible disadvantages of eliciting in the EFL classroom

1. Eliciting can be time consuming
   

As the example above shows, sometimes eliciting a word or explanation can take ten times as long as just explaining it. If students are getting more speaking during that time and are learning useful language analysis skills and incidental language this doesn't have to be a reason to abandon it, but it can still mean that students have forgotten about what the listening is supposed to be about (therefore making your lovely lead in stage a waste of time) by the time the vocabulary pre-teach finishes. Ways of avoiding this problem include: plan your elicitation and make sure you have found the quickest way, use pictures and other prompts if that will cut down on the amount of time eliciting will take, and teach them the grammatical jargon etc that they will need to understand when you are eliciting (maybe dedicating a whole section of a lesson to it). If how long your elicitation is taking is simply a sign of you not having got the hang of the process yet, you could try eliciting the same language from a teacher before your lesson to practice and get feedback, using Elementary Learner's dictionary definitions to cut down on the length and complexity of your own explanations, doing something similar with grammar explanations from grammar books for students, or giving students the vocabulary list for the next lesson to learn on their own the evening before. Alternatively, give written eliciting stages, e.g. definitions of the vocabulary you want to teach them (maybe letting them use bilingual dictionaries or giving them a list of the vocabulary to match to the definitions) or guided discovery grammar tasks.

1. Eliciting doesn't always lead to more STT
   

If the elicitation is much longer than the thing you are trying to elicit, it can actually mean more TTT than if you had just given them the answer. A general rule is to make the question shorter than the answers (using the tips elsewhere in this article). If that is impossible, explaining might be better than eliciting at that stage.

1. One student can dominate answering your elicitation questions
   

Solutions include: nominate particular people to answer, give them the elicitation stage written down to go through with a partner, follow all their answers up with requests for additional ideas from the other students, or occasionally tell them that you'd like someone else to answer.

1. Elicitation can become automatic
   

This is one of the most heard complaints from people attending workshops for teachers- the person giving the workshop isn't able to drop their classroom manner and so spends the whole time eliciting the things the teachers attending already know and doesn't give the kind of new information that they expected to hear. A good general tip for having balance in your classes is: once you know how to do something, try switching to something else. In this case, that means that once you are able to elicit example sentences, pieces of vocabulary and grammatical explanations almost at will, you are ready to look at what the other options could be at each stage. Some options are: give a mini-presentation as preparation for them giving their own mini-presentations on future language points, get them to do the guided discovery activities from the worksheet or textbook in groups, and get them into the habit of asking you for explanation by teaching them typical classroom questions ("What does ... mean?" etc) and giving them tasks that are impossible if they didn't take advantage of the Q and A stage.

1. Eliciting can be met by silence
   

This could mean that students don't know the answer, that they do know the answer but aren't confident, that they would know the answer but haven't understood your elicitation, that the people who do know the answer are too shy to speak, that the person who knows the answer is trying to avoid dominating the class, that giving the right answer before everyone else might seem like boasting, that they have been put off answering by getting so many previous answers wrong, that they know you always give the answer if they wait long enough, that they expect to be asked individually, that they don't understand that you really want people to speak out, or even that they are refusing to take part because they are unhappy with the teaching methodology of the teacher. Knowing how to reduce the problem of silence depends firstly on you being able to identify which of these reasons is the most important for your class or a particular student.

1. The language of elicitation is not like normal communication
   

Can you imagine elicitation in normal life? "What do you want from the shops?" "What do you think I want from the shops? They are white and sold in packets..." That would soon lead to a divorce, I reckon! That does not necessarily mean it should be avoided (after all, the phonemic script isn't less useful for EFL students just because it isn't used by native speakers), but making classroom language as natural as possible will help with giving them exposure to the kinds of language they are likely to meet in their real lives. One way you can work on this is to brainstorm all the sentences you could use when eliciting and choose the ones that are most natural. Questions types that are perfectly natural in native speaker classrooms but are sometimes neglected in EFL classrooms include statements with tag questions, statements as questions (just changing the intonation), unfinished sentences ("And the opposite of 'hot' is...?") and leaving out some grammar words such as pronouns.

1. Eliciting can get boring/ repetitive
   

As well as mixing up elicitation with the other techniques like guided discovery worksheets that are recommended elsewhere in this article, you can introduce variety by using different methods of elicitation (pictures, realia, sketches, mime, guessing from context etc) and by brainstorming different language you can use to start your sentences ("What do you call I thing for...?" "I'm thinking of a thing that..." "Can anyone tell me the name of...?" "You should all be able to explain the difference between..." "Do you all remember the object we talked about on Monday?" etc).

1. Eliciting can seem childish/ patronising
   

One way out of this is to be especially careful with your tone of voice and body language, as "Good guess!" with extreme variation in tone and both thumbs up is likely to make adult students laugh out loud with embarrassment or genuine humour. You could also just go with that by making it so extreme sometimes that it is obvious that you are overdoing it deliberately. Otherwise, I have sometimes found it useful to say to my students that how I speak to them is just "teacher speak" and so useful for me but not necessarily something they should copy. I don't have any other particular ideas to overcome this point and it is something I still find to be an issue in adult classes and even more in teenage classes where they want to be treated as more of an adult than the adults do! Keeping this is mind should at least help the teacher to subconsciously adjust their language.

1. Eliciting can be culturally inappropriate
   

Some students are used to the teacher giving all the answers and so do not expect you to be waiting in silence for the students to come up with it. With such students, too much elicitation can lead to a lot of classroom silence and even thoughts that the teacher is not taking responsibility and maybe not even teaching. Some justification of your teaching methods in your classes, in tutorials, or the literature for the school can help, as can questions on feedback questionnaires that seek to analyse students' attitudes to elicitation and the reasons for those feelings. If you are encountering resistance or think you might, starting with a more traditional teaching style and then moving towards students contributing more and more can help. It is possible to give these factors too much importance, however, as students might not be used to elicitation or comfortable about it yet but might have chosen to come to communicative language classes exactly so that they can get used to those kinds of things. There is also a chance that even students who don't answer when you elicit have at least come up with an answer in their heads, and so have prepared their brains to learn whatever you and the other students say.

1. There is no point asking a question you already know the answer to
   

This is one factor of the unnaturalness of elicitation questions. Ways around this include asking questions that there are many different ways of answering, brainstorming rather than asking for particular things, and asking students to give example sentences that are actually true about them. The most important thing, though, is to always respond to things they say first of all for their meaning and only after for how much they were what you were looking for, e.g. "Can you give me an example of the Present Perfect that is true for you?" "I have been to Paris last weekend" "Really, just for the weekend? That's a lot of travel. Last weekend is a finished time, though, so if you just change the verb..."

1. There is a chance the wrong thing will be more memorable than the right one
   

There is a lot of debate about whether writing something wrong on the board is likely to make them remember it, and I have personal experience in foreign languages of thinking "I remember there are two forms and one of them is right and the other one is wrong, but I can't for the life of me remember which one is which". The way I see it now, though, is that being able to remember there is a tricky point there is at least progress. If students are learning off each other enough that they start picking up each other's mistakes, this is also something I take as proof that an interactive, communicative language classroom where they work cooperatively is working. Some clear error correction should (eventually) sort out any doubts.

Video tasks for specific language points and skills

Modals of probability and possibility

You can very easily practice this language point with videos. One way is to reduce the amount of information that the students have, e.g. by turning off the sound, turning off the picture, covering part of screen or choosing an ambiguous scene or still. Students then speculate on what is going on and/ or why. This can be turned into a game by students using the modal verbs to make their bets. For example, if they say "It must be a kind of time machine" that is betting ten dollars, whereas if they say "It could possibly be a way of creating monsters" that means that they only bet three dollars.

Similar things can be done with guessing what an ad is adverting, guessing who says each piece of dialogue, what referencing expressions in dialogue refer to (e.g. what is the "it" in "I pulled it but it wouldn't come off"), or unconventional ways that they use particular objects (with things like The A Team series or the Home Alone films)

Reference expressions

Give students dialogue from the film with expressions like "one", "that" and "hers" in, where the meaning is not absolutely clear from the information you give them. Students have to guess what those things refer to then watch and check.

Countable and uncountable nouns

The students are given worksheets with sentences about things that are sometimes countable and sometimes uncountable, e.g. "There is some cake" (rather than "There are some cakes") and "There are some chickens" (rather than "There is some chicken") If they think at any time that a sentence on the sheet is true about that part of the movie, they shout it out. They get one point if it is true or lose one point if the thing on the screen is different. Alternatively, you could give them pairs of similar sentences and get them to compete to call out the right one first.

There is/ there are

Students make as many There is/ There are sentences about what is on the screen as they can when the video is paused

The same as above, but being allowed to talk about anything that has happened in the film up to that point (maybe with "There have been... so far", but "There are... in this film" is also possible)

Students predict how many kisses, slaps, deaths etc there are in the scene or whole video and then watch and check. This could tie in well with discussions of on screen violence etc

Reported speech

Give the students reported speech versions of what some of the characters say with some of them changed so that they don't quite match what is said, e.g. "He said that he had loved her" for "I love you". Students have to listen to the dialogue and mark each one with "Same" or "Different". They could also try to guess which ones don't match before watching

Using a video with quite minimal dialogue, watch it with subtitles and no sound. Half the students face away from the screen, listen while their partner explains the dialogue in reported speech and tick the sentences that match on their worksheet (which can be given as direct or indirect speech, and can include sentences that don't quite match to make things harder)

Give students a plot summary with inaccuracies in it, and get them to use reported speech to discuss the corrections at the end, e.g. "The text said that he wasn't the murderer, but actually he was"

Do the same with reviews with views in, asking students to disagree with as many things as they can (maybe for points)

Students roleplay a dialogue from the film before they see it (maybe from roleplay cards), watch to check any differences, then use reported speech to describe any differences between the two dialogues

Students watch a film in which the person speaking is lying, e.g. someone on the stand during a court case. They say what they think was inaccurate using reported speech (e.g. "He said that he had never met that person before, but I think they were lovers"), then watch the scene where the truth comes out and check

Infinitive of purpose

Students guess why characters do the actions you have listed and then watch and check

Students guess what the characters do to achieve the things you have listed, then watch and check.

Students match the actions on the worksheet to the purposes, then watch and check

Students make as many sentences as they can with infinitives of purpose while they watch the film

Relative clauses

Choose several things in the film that students definitely won't know the name of, e.g. a tow bar and fingerless gloves. Give them definitions of these things written with relative clauses, plus maybe a few that are similar but wrong or are of things that don't appear, e.g. "It is a white fabric thing which grannies put on the arms of sofas to stop them wearing out" for "doily". As soon as students see that thing on the screen, they read out the definition or just shout out the number of the sentence. You can also do the same thing where you give them the definitions and names and ask them to shout out the names.
Other language points

Functions

Students are given cards with the names of one or more functions on, e.g. "Request" and "Complaint". They watch a segment of the film with no sound and shout out when they think someone is saying something with that function, guessing from the situation, body language etc. Before they watch again with the sound on and get points if they were right, everyone can try and guess the exact words that are used.

Students hold up a card or shout out the name of a function that they think will be true of the next piece of dialogue, then continue watching and check

Colour vocabulary

The students are split into pairs. Half the students face the screen and the other half face away. The students facing away are given a worksheet that is a scene 5 or 10 minutes into the film but with no colours. As the students facing the screen watch the movie, they describe all the colours to their partner, who colours them in (with colouring pencils, crayons or felt tip pens). At least one thing on their sheet should be something they can only colour in when their partner sees exactly the scene that is on the worksheet, but other things like characters can be coloured in as they go along. Any student who thinks they have completed the whole sheet can shout out "Finished". They get ten points if all the colours are correct, but get minus one point for each wrong colour if they aren't all correct.

Students predict the colours of particular things in the film and then watch and check

Students predict what things of each colour will be in the film and then watch and check

Adjectives

Students are given a poster of the film with no writing on it and should add words or sentences to "sell" the film to people who see their poster.

Students use as many adjectives as they can to describe the scene when you pause the video

Students guess the personalities of the characters from their photos and/ or descriptions (jobs etc), then watch and check

The same as above, but asking students to write down an action or piece of dialogue that illustrates each personality word

The same as above, but with feelings

Students predict what the characters will do or say from descriptions of their personalities and a description of the episode, and then watch and check

Numbers

Put up a number (as a figure or a word) on the board and then play the film until that many something is on the screen, then pause. The first person to say the correct sentence with that number gets a point. This can also be done as writing or by selecting words from cut up pieces of paper to make a sentence.

Pause the film and give one point for each correct sentence with a number greater than one.

Phrasal verbs

Give students descriptions of what people do or dialogue from the film that includes phrasal verbs but has either the preposition or the verb taken out. Students predict the missing words and then watch to check

Give sentences describing what happens in the film or bits of dialogue that include phrasal verbs, split so that the verb and preposition are divided from each other. Students try to match the two halves, then watch and check

Reading

Give a huge list of vocabulary, including words and expressions that are and aren't in the video. Students have to shout out or cross off any that they hear (skimming and scanning skills)

Similar to above, but with sentences

Give a description of the film that has some inaccuracies in it, and get students to correct it as they watch

Do the same, but with character descriptions with inaccuracies

Give students one or two reviews and ask them to find as many things that they can to disagree with as they are watching the film

Give students a few reviews and ask them to find the one they most agree with as they are watching

Give students of several different videos with the more obvious clues taken out. Students race to work out which review is for the video you are watching. This works best with different episodes of the same series or sequels

Listening and pronunciation

Get a bad pirate copy of a film or TV programme with dodgy English subtitles and ask students to watch and listen for when the subtitles don't match the dialogue. The same is possible with proper English subtitles when all the words wouldn't fit on the screen etc, but it is more common and more amusing with pirate versions. Alternatively, you could set up your own version by writing the subtitles yourself (fairly easy with modern software, if somewhat time consuming)

Give students a list of words that appear in the film with their homophones, e.g. hair and hare. Students must listen out for the words and work out from the context which of the two words is being said

The same as above but with minimal pairs, e.g. listening out for of/ off and working out which one it is from context and pronunciation

Useful classroom language for teachers when using texts Share

Types of text
Brochure
Pamphlet
Flier/ Leaflet
Instruction booklet/ Manual
Signs/ Notices
Stories
Graded readers/ Easy readers/ Elementary level readers
Report
Fax
(Formal/ Informal) letter (of complaint/ application)
CV (= curriculum vitae = resume)
(Application/ Immigration) form
Contract
Email
Junk mail (= Spam)
Website
Search results
(Online) forum
Subtitles
Interactive menu
Menu
Catalogue

Types of tasks
Multiple choice
True/ False
True/ False/ Not given
Matching (paragraphs to headings)
Summarizing
Prediction tasks
Guessing meaning from context
Gap fill/ Cloze
Put the... into order
Correct the wrong statements
Answer the questions
Fill in the table

Other useful vocabulary to talk about texts
Scanning
Skimming
(Reading for) gist/ general understanding/overall understanding
(Reading for) detailed comprehension/ specific information
Speed reading
Jigsaw text
Phonics
Whole word recognition
First letter recognition
Word shape
Paragraph
Topic sentence
Headline
Caption
(Paragraph) heading
Extensive reading/ Reading for pleasure
Self Access Centre/ School library/ Lending library
(Vocabulary) pre-teach
Underline

Classroom language for prediction tasks and other lead-ins
"From the headline/ the picture(s)/ the picture(s) and caption(s)/ what you know about the topic/ the first sentence/ the first paragraph/ the list of vocabulary from the text/ the paragraph headings, what do you think the text will say/ will be about/ will include? (Discuss with your partner)"
"Try to answer the questions from your discussion/ your own knowledge, then read through and check"
"Read through quickly and just check your answers"
"First we're going to look at some vocabulary that you might need to understand the text"

General tips for reading
"It's usually a good idea to read through the whole text first, but in this exam you don't have time"
"Don't worry about any words you don't know, just ignore them"
"Read through all the questions first"
"The questions are (almost all/ all/ almost always/ usually/ always) in the same order as the text, apart from the summary question/ attitude question"
"How do you think we should approach this task?"
"You have to write your answers on the answer sheet at the end, so you can write anything you like on the question paper"
"Take out the staple to make it easier to see the questions and text at the same time"

Tips for scanning
"Numbers and words with capital letters are the easiest things to scan for"
"What word from the question will probably be in the text and be easy to scan for?"
"Before you start scanning, whereabouts in the text do you think the information might be?"

Tips for multiple choice questions
"Underline the information in the text that tells you that option A is correct/ wrong"
"If there is the same word in the text, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is the right option/ it's probably a trick question"
"What word from this sentence means the same as this word in option B?"
"Cross off the options that you are sure aren't true (and then guess)?"
"You don't lose any marks for a wrong guess"
"Eliminate the (obviously) wrong answers (first)"
"Only change your answers if you are sure they are wrong, because most changes of multiple choice tasks are from something right to something wrong"

Tips for matching tasks
"If you have time, read through the paragraph that you haven't matched to any of the heading and make sure that it doesn't match any of them"

Tips for self study reading
"Don't stop and use your dictionary whole you are reading, because the meaning of the word might come up later"
"When you reach Advanced level it's worth having an encyclopaedia as well as a dictionary, because most of things you don't know will be cultural things"
"It's more important to read for pleasure than it is to try to learn the vocabulary"
"It's almost always better to read a graded reader than to read an authentic text"

Miscellaneous instructions and tips
"The text continues on the next page"
"Pens down the first time you read"
"You can/ can't write on the text"
"(Please leave five minutes, because) you need to transfer your answers to the answer sheet"
"Underline the information in the text"

Checking answers
"Where does it say that in the text? (What paragraph/ What line number?)"
"Does that mean (exactly) the same as...?"
"Choose any question you are sure of the answer for"
"Compare your answers with your partner"
"Check your answers with the answer key/ from the board and ask me if you have any questions"

The big list of classroom language for playing games

Useful vocabulary

Roll a/ the dice

Board (game)

Counter

Team

Winner (= First place)

Second place (= Runner up)

The wooden spoon (= Last place)

(Flip/ Toss a) coin/ Heads or tails?

Paper scissors stone/ Rock paper scissors

(Move) clockwise/ anticlockwise (= counter clockwise)

Bonus question

Joker

Pass (to the next player)

Cheating

Minus one point/ Take away a point

Clue/ Hint

Shuffle/ Mix (up)

Deal (out)

(My/ Your/ His/ Her/ This team's) turn

Points

Add up (the points)/ The total (score)

Round one/ The first round


Playing board games

Throw/ roll the dice (and move around the board)

You need one counter each (for example, an eraser or a coin)

Whose turn is it? / Who's next?

Is it my turn? / Am I next?

It's your turn. / You're next

Place your counter on start/ the first square/ Choose a different counter each and place it on "START".

The player with the highest number goes first

Play rock, paper, scissors to see who goes first

If you land on this square go back three squares/ take a card/ do the thing that is written there/ do the

challenge that your partners set you

Take it in turns to throw the dice.

Move forward three squares.

If you throw a 6, have another go/ throw again

You need a board, a dice and a counter each. (Ask me nicely for those things)

What colour counter do you want/ would you like?


Playing card games

Face down (on the table)/ So you can't see them

Face up/ So that you can see them

In a pack/ Two packs

Spread across the table/ floor

Deal out all the cards

Give (three/ four/ five/ an equal number of) cards to each player (and put the rest in a pack in the middle)

Shuffle (thoroughly)

Take a card from the pack (when it is your turn/ if you can't go)

The person with the most/ least cards is the winner

Pick a card (from this pack)/ Take a card from the top of the pack

Take five cards, but don't look at them (yet)

You can look at the cards, but don't show your partner


Quizzes

You can only have one guess

If you guess wrongly play passes to the next team/ you lose one point

Do you need a hint/ a clue/ more time?

Twenty seconds to answer

(Is that your) final answer?

Choose one question

You have to agree on an answer in your team/ group


Starting and setting up games

It's time for a game! / Let's play a game!

Tell me/ decide on your team names/ What are your team names?/ Write your team names here/ Choose a
team name from this list


Clearing space and getting into position

Clear your desks/ Put your books and pencils away/ Make some room on your desk

Get into pairs/ groups (of two/ three/ four)/ Find a partner/ Find two/ three/ four partners

This is group/ team A (and this is group/ team B)

You (two), work together

Make/ get into two/ three/ four groups/ teams

(Make/ get into) a boys' team and a girls' team

Make/ stand in a circle

Make two lines/ Stand in two lines (from here to here/ facing the board/ between here and here)

Turn (all the way) round (and face each other/ face the other way)

Face this way/ Face the board/ window/ teacher/ back of the room

Come to the front please/ Come up here


Getting the right bits and pieces

Take one (worksheet/ dice/ counter) and pass them back/ pass them along

One (photocopy/ piece of paper/ counter) each

One (dice/ playing board/ pack of cards) for each group

Choose something that you can use as a counter (for this game, for example a coin, eraser or pen lid)

Pass (me/ your partner/ the next person) the ball

Ask me (nicely/ politely/ in English) for the pack of cards/ dice/ ball

Here you are! / Here you go!

Make sure there is/ are... in your set


Giving instructions

What do (you think) we do with a/ this dice/ coin/ ball/ spinner/ sticky ball/ box of Lego bricks?

Who would like to demonstrate the game (with me)?

Does anyone already know this game?

Play moves clockwise/ anticlockwise (= counter clockwise)


Instruction checking questions

How long do you have to play the game?

Who is the winner?

How do you win the game?

Can you/ Should you...?

What are the rules?

What is this for?

What does this mean?

(Are there/ Does anyone have) any (more) questions?


Getting started

Who'd like to start? / (Are there) any volunteers (to go first)?

Are you ready?

Ready, steady, go! / On your marks, get set, go! / Wait for it, wait for it, go!

Any (more) questions about how to play? No? Okay, start/ play the game!


 Making sure the game moves along

It's your turn/ You're next/ You're up

Whose turn is it? / Who's next?

Try (it) again

Are you (100%) sure? / (Is that your) final answer?


Finishing games

(Go) back to your seats

That was fun, wasn't it? / Did you have fun?

Time's running out! / Only 10 seconds left. Ten, nine...

Hurry up!

Time's up/ Three, two, one, zero! / Game over! / The game is over

(There will be) (just) one more question/ round

How many points did you get? / Add up your scores/ Count up your points/ cards

Stop there

The big list of ending the lesson language

Time to stop
It's (almost) time to stop
(I'm afraid/ Sorry but) it's time to finish (now)
We'll have to stop there
There's the bell/ That's the bell. It's time to stop
We've run out of time
The next class is waiting (outside/ to come in)
You'll be late for your next class (if you don't stop now)
We'll have to finish this tomorrow/ in the next lesson
Look at the time/ What time is it now?
30 seconds to finish that activity. It's nearly time to go
That's all (we have time) for today

Not time to stop.
The bell hasn't gone yet.
There are still two minutes to go.
We still have a couple of minutes left.
The lesson doesn't finish till five past.
Your watch(es) must be fast.
We seem to have finished early.
We have an extra five minutes.
We still have time to/for.../ We have five minutes left to/for...
Sit quietly until the bell goes. / I don't remember hearing a bell
Why are you packing your bags already?/ Did anyone tell you to pack your bags?
One more thing before you go
Wait a minute/ Hang on a moment/ Just hold on a moment/ Stay where you are for a moment/ Just a moment, please. / Just a sec/ Just a second/ Wait for it!
(Go) back to your places/ Where are you going?/ Where do you think you are going?/ Don't you think you are jumping the gun?
Juan, you have to stay five extra minutes (as I told you earlier/ because you...)

Clearing up
Put your books and pencils away/ in your bag
Put your things in your bags
Close your books (and put them in your bags)
Pack your things away
You may pack away now
Tidy up (the classroom/ your desks) please
Put any rubbish in the bin
The first team to tidy up gets an extra point/ can leave first
That's the tidy up song, so what do you have to do?

Homework
This is your homework for tonight
Copy tonight's homework from the board
Circle these exercises in your workbooks and do them tonight
(Let's check that you remember). What's the homework?
Do exercise 10 on page 23 for (your) homework
Finish this exercise/ Do the next exercise tonight, and we'll check it tomorrow
Check your answers at the back of the book and ask me tomorrow if you have any questions
Learn this list of words (for homework/ by tomorrow/ tonight)
There is no homework tonight (but there will be tomorrow)
Don't forget your homework (this time)
Take a worksheet as you leave.
What do you have to do before the next lesson?

Next time
We'll do the rest of this chapter next time.
We'll finish this exercise next lesson.
We've run out of time, so we'll continue next lesson.
We'll continue this chapter next Monday.
The next class starts at 5 o'clock
Please sit in the same teams in the next class/ We're going to continue with this tomorrow, so please sit together again
We'll do some more practice of this in the next class (because you found it a bit difficult)
Tomorrow's/ Next week's/ Thursday's lesson will be (about)...
Tomorrow/ Next week/ Thursday is a holiday, so I'll see you (all) on...
Is there a class tomorrow/ next week/ on Thursday?
We'll take fifteen minutes' break (so that means you have to be back at 11:23)
We're taking our break a bit late, so be back here by...

Saying goodbye
Goodbye, everyone.
See you (again next Wednesday/ tomorrow/ later/ after the holiday/ after the break)
See you in room 7 after the break.
Have a good holiday.
Enjoy your vacation.
See you next week/ tomorrow/ on Wednesday/ next term/ after the holiday/ later/ this afternoon
Stand up and say goodbye to the class, please
Let's sing the goodbye song (and wave goodbye)