Less Is More In Teaching

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He holds an MA in TEFL (Reading University), he is a CELTA assessor, an LCCI examiner, a freelance trainer and author, he has written coursebooks at primary, secondary and adult levels, as well as a number of articles in international journals.

He has published over 40 books, either as author, co-author or editor. He has given sessions at hundreds of conferences worldwide and is known for giving lively, highly practical talks.

Paul Seligson was in Athens last September to promote his books –Essential English published by Richmond and ELT NEWS had the chance to talk to him.

Essential English is a brand new five-level intensive course for young adult learners who wish to improve their English quickly. The course is fully mapped to the Common European Reference over five levels (A1-B2).

∙Are certain age groups your area of expertise?

“Most of my work is for secondary school learners, university students and adults. I’ve done books for the primary as well. Since I’ve been a parent, I learned to be a better teacher of children.”

∙The course we are talking about is the Essential English. What is the idea behind picking up this title?

“We tried to create an effective, intensive programme and provide the essentials without overwhelming teachers with choice, or forcing students to buy pages they will never use.

By definition ‘intensive’ means time is short, but, ironically, general coursebooks seem to be getting bigger and longer. After all how often do teachers finish a book, or even get anywhere near ‘finishing’?

So the idea behind the title was to define what is absolutely essential for teachers and students and provide extra material to supplement the course when necessary.

If you can produce a thirty-hour core, then you can expand it to 60, 70 hours through project work, etc. In the last decade or so coursebooks have become so massive that stifle teacher creativity.”

∙How did you decide what is essential to put in the course?

“Now it’s easy with the use of corpora. You find the most common key phrases, the most common situations English is used in term of travel, in term of business etc. I didn’t put more than 800-1000 words in each level.

If you think about learning, when you try to teach more than 800-1000 words in a single level, you do not have time to repeat, recycle, revise, expand the material which is very important in language learning. Students need to spend time looking for things not just looking at things.”

∙How does Essential English address the needs of a language learner?

“Well, the course is activity-driven, full of contemporary content, modern text genres and real life relevance. We think students will recognize the texts as the sort of thing they read and use in their own language.

We try to build confidence by giving quick results and a strong sense of rapid progress. Our aim has been to make learning light and enjoyable but at the same time we do not pretend it’s not hard work, requiring time, energy and regular serious study.”

∙How can teachers reap the most benefits from the course’s methodology?

“Obviously each lesson has a complete lesson plan in the Teacher’s Book, which is ideal for new or substitute teachers. And there is a Teaching Skills section full of ideas at the start of each book too.

But many teachers either don’t read, don’t use or don’t have access to Teacher’s Books, so we have tried to provide transparent lessons, which can teach themselves pretty much for the page.”

∙How can teachers ensure their students really learn in a shorter course than usual?

“Adults are well aware they can’t get something for nothing and that learning a language takes both time and considerable effort. Signing up for a course, whether short or long, guarantees nothing. The secret to success in any course is getting students to do at least as much work outside the class as in.”

∙How does the Teacher’s Digital Book enhance Essential English?

“The Teacher’s Digital Book makes teaching easier for learners and brings the coursebook to life. It can be projected via an interactive whiteboard or data projector and you can instantly access the audio, teaching notes and practice activities for each section. You can move, drag and zoom text or images, draw, hide, highlight and erase words, sentences, texts and pictures.

You can add your own links to websites, audio and video files or to documents you have produced yourself. The Teacher’s Digital Book also offers extra grammar and vocabulary practice at the click of a mouse.”

∙And you have a website dedicated to the course?

“Yes, most of the coursebooks produced by major publishers have websites specifically for their books. The one we have looks very good to me. It’s full of games, songs, playful grammar and pronunciation practice and other relevant material.”

∙Is this essential?

“It’s a good question. Unless the students are gifted, or very lucky, yes, I think it is essential. Students find things for themselves to support the teaching. If you only have teaching without learning, it doesn’t work.”

∙Does it provide extra motivation?

“Yes, if it’s short and fun. It lubricates learning. The more responsibilities you give the learners the more they are able to induce and deduce thing for themselves rather than being told. The key thing about teaching adults is that they must have a feel of progress on a daily basis.

That’s why I thing that less is more in teaching. The more you are trying to do the less you are likely to be able to do it.”

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