NEW EDITION

PROGRESSIVE

Skills in English
Level 1 Teacher’s Book

Terry Phillips and Anna Phillips

1
Published by
Garnet Publishing Ltd.
8 Southern Court
South Street
Reading RG1 4QS, UK

Copyright © 2016 Garnet Publishing Ltd.

The right of Terry Phillips and Anna Phillips to be identified

as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Publisher. Any person
who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Second edition 2016

ISBN: 978-1-78260-309-2

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library.

Production
Project managers: Richard Peacock, Nicky Platt
Editorial team: Dr Sally Rabi, Emily Clarke, Sarah Mellowes
Research: Lucy Phillips
Design & layout: Ed Du Bois, Sarah Church, Neil Collier, Mike Hinks, Bob House
Illustration: Doug Nash
Photography: Alamy, Clipart, Corbis, Digital Vision, Getty Images, Image
Source, Photodisc, iStockphoto, Shutterstock
Audio: EFS Television Production Ltd, Silver Street Studios

Acknowledgements
The Publishers would like to thank the following who contributed to the piloting
of the Garnet series at AOU:

1. FLS Deanship: Professor Ahmad Y. Majdoubeh and

Professor Saleh Al-Salman
2. Kuwait Branch: Mr. Mohammed Farran and Ms. Hiba Tayyara
3. Egypt Branch: Dr. Heba Badreldin, Dr. Manar Shalaby,
Ms. Amira Fouad, and Ms. Marine Milad.
4. Lebanon Branch: Dr. Hayat Al-Khatib, Mr. Ralph Sleiman,
Ms. Mirna Abdel Malak,
and Ms. Helen Zadourian

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders and we apologize in
advance for any unintentional omissions. We will be happy to insert the
appropriate acknowledgements in any subsequent editions.

Printed and bound

in Lebanon by International Press: interpress@int-press.com
 Book map
Theme Topics & Vocabulary Listening Speaking

Education • Freshers’ week Skills: Skills:

1 • Systems of education
• Living and working at
• understanding
definitions
• organizing a talk
• choosing the correct
university Grammar: tense
• A Personal Statement • articles Grammar:
• gerunds • present vs past tense
• present simple be

Psychology and • Concepts Skills: Skills:

2 sociology • Human behaviour
• Personality and
• recognizing time
signposts
• taking turns: starting
and ending a turn
behaviour Grammar: • expressing advice and
• Extroverts and introverts • past simple regular and possibility
irregular verbs • giving advice
• prepositions of time Grammar:
• modals: can / can’t
• should / shouldn’t

Work and business • How to be a good Skills: Skills:

3 employee
• Summer jobs
• hearing and noting
important words
• making a good
impression
• Choosing a career • expressing obligation • extending a turn
• The interview process and necessity • expressing wants
Grammar: Grammar:
• modals: must / mustn’t • yes / no questions
• have to / don’t have to • expressing wants

Daily life • A time for everything Skills: Skills:

4 • Larks and owls: sleep
patterns
• predicting what comes
next
• linking research and
personal experience
• Work, rest and play • recognizing introductory Grammar:
• Average people? phrases • prepositions
Grammar:
• demonstratives: this,
that, these, those

Technology • What is technology? Skills: Skills:

5 •
•
Uses of technology
Low-tech technology
• using signpost words
• recognizing quantifiers
• introducing a talk
Grammar:
• Technology and the Grammar: • choosing the correct
environment • quantifiers: many, few, verb form
much, less, etc. • will and going to

4 Book map
Reading Writing Phonology Everyday English Portfolio

Skills: Skills: • hearing Asking about words Activities and clubs

• preparing to read • writing a personal consonants: and phrases
• recognizing advice and statement /p/ and /b/
instructions • organizing information • hearing
Grammar: into paragraphs vowels: // and
• Imperatives and must Grammar: /i /
for advice • like / enjoy + V + -ing
• want / hope + to + V

Skills: Skills: • hearing and Asking for What kind of person

• preparing to read: • gathering and recording saying vowels: information am I?
illustrations information // and /ɑ /
• the effect of frequency • organizing information • saying
adverbs into paragraphs consonants:
Grammar: • describing people /n/, /ŋ/, /ŋk/
• frequency adverbs • the basics of essay
writing
Grammar:
• adjectives for describing
people
• linking with and
• omission of repeated
subject

Skills: Skills: • hearing Talking about days Jobs

• dealing with new words • writing about a process consonants: and times
• preparing to read: • organizing information //, / /, / /
section headings into a flow chart
Grammar: • using chronological
• identifying noun phrases markers
• giving reasons for
actions
Grammar:
• because and so (1)
• present simple passive

Skills: Skills: • hearing Offering and Comparing countries

• finding and using topic • writing about results consonants: requesting;
sentences • referring to tables and -th, -er, -er accepting and
• looking for examples figures • saying vowels: refusing
Grammar: Grammar: /e/, / /, /ə/
• introductory phrases • past simple passive

Skills: Skills: • multi-syllable Getting around Wearable technology

• recognizing reasons and • writing topic sentences words town
results • writing a case study • saying vowel
Grammar: Grammar: sounds
• because and so (2) • modifying nouns • saying the
letter s

Book map 5
 Introduction: Contents

The series 7 Developing independent learning 13

The themes 7 Developing critical thinking 14
The sections 7 Remembering real-world knowledge 14
The lessons 7 Using / Applying a key skill 14
Additional pages 7 Making and checking hypotheses 14
Everyday English 7 Methodology 14
Knowledge quiz or Vocabulary quiz 7 Everyday English 14
Portfolio 8 Knowledge / Vocabulary quiz 14
Approach 8 Portfolio 15
Aims 8 Listening 16
Moving from teaching general Further speaking practice / drilling 17
to academic English 8 Setting up tasks 18
Discrete skills or integrated? 8 Use of visuals 18
Receptive skills – listening and reading 8 Pronunciation 18
Productive skills – speaking and writing 9 Comparing answers in pairs 18
Syntactic grammar for EAP 9 Monitoring 18
Syntactic grammar at Level 1 10 Feedback 18
Exercise naming 11 Confirmation and correction 18
Exercise types 11 Highlighting grammar 18
Vocabulary lists 12 Self-checking 19
Skills Checks 12 Gap fill 19
Pronunciation Checks 12 Two-column activities 19
Recurrent activities 13 Ordering 19
Activating (background) Tables and charts 19
knowledge / ideas 13 Error correction 19
Understanding words in context 13
Transferring information (to the
real world) / Using new skills in
a real-world task 13
Reviewing key words 13
Identifying a new skill 13
Predicting content 13
Previewing vocabulary 13
Hearing / Understanding / Studying a
model / discourse structure 13
Practising a model 13
Producing a model 13
Producing key patterns 13
Showing comprehension 13
Researching information 13
Developing vocabulary 13

6 Introduction
Introduction

The series section. This is not because the writers dislike integrated
skills. Indeed, each theme ends with a section called
This course is part of the multi-level Progressive Skills Portfolio, which provides detailed guidance on
in English series. The series as a whole prepares integrated skills activities following the completion of a
students to study wholly or partly in English medium particular theme. The insistence on the target skill is
at tertiary level, or to join the world of academic because the writers believe that both the teacher and
English, on the internet and in print. the students should focus on improvement in a specific
skill in a particular lesson, rather than moving constantly
This new edition has been extensively revised to take between different skills. However, the key word here is
into account feedback from both teachers and focus. More than one skill will, of course, be involved in
students. In particular, Themes 4 and 5 are completely any particular lesson. For example, in listening lessons
new. The accompanying Workbook provides further there is almost always a speaking output, and in writing
practice in all the skills areas. lessons there is almost always a reading input.

The commonality of theme across the four skill

sections means that, by the end of a theme, students
The themes have a much deeper knowledge of both the
information and vocabulary that it comprises than
In each level of Progressive Skills in English there are is normally achieved in ELT course books.
five themes, covering a wide range of areas of human
knowledge.

Level 1 The lessons

Theme 1: Education
Theme 2: Psychology and sociology Each skill section contains two or four main lessons,
Theme 3: Work and business and each lesson has a clear focus and purpose.
Theme 4: Daily life
Theme 5: Technology

Additional pages

The sections Every theme contains three additional pages:

Within each theme there are four main sections, each Everyday English
dealing with a discrete skill: listening, speaking, This page is in the speaking section and builds skills in
reading or writing. A number of related topics are survival language and social English. In Theme 1, for
explored within each theme. For example, in Theme 1 example, this page covers Asking about words and
the following areas are explored: phrases and in Theme 2, Asking for information in a
Listening: welcome talks for students starting at an university or college setting. See the Methodology
English-medium university section for more guidance.
Speaking: systems of education and qualities of
good teachers Knowledge quiz or Vocabulary quiz
Reading: living and working at university This page is in the reading section and tests students
Writing: completing an application form and on their acquisition of common core knowledge and
writing a Personal Statement thematic vocabulary from the theme. In Theme 1,
for example, this page ask students to remember
The focus in each section is on one specific skill. The information about Education, including parts of a
Methodology notes in this Teacher’s Book stress the university campus, social customs in the UK and
discrete skills focus and caution against spending too types of school. See the Methodology section for
much time on, for example, speaking in a listening more guidance.

Introduction 7
 Portfolio quickly which texts, or parts of texts are relevant to
This section comes at the very end of each theme and the task and extract the information. Listening and
provides an opportunity to integrate skills learnt during reading texts in general will be much longer in EAP
the course. Students are provided with tasks and than in a general English course.
research information in additional listening and/or
reading texts, and asked to produce talks and/or written Vocabulary
texts. In Theme 3, for example, students are asked to Students need a wide range of formal language.
research and talk about Jobs. See the Methodology Academic texts about a single subject tend to use a
section for more guidance. lot of synonyms for key nouns and verbs, so
students need to deepen and broaden their lexical
range all the time.

Approach Topics and themes

Sometimes you find very familiar ‘EFL’ topics in
Aims Progressive Skills in English, but then you will see
In Progressive Skills in English, students learn to that the approach to that topic is different. For
understand the main types of academic spoken example, in a section on holiday resorts, students
language, lectures and tutorials, and the main types are not asked about going on holiday or planning a
of academic written language, journal articles and weekend away, but rather why particular resorts
encyclopedia entries. They also learn to produce the are popular, whether tourism benefits the local
main kinds of student academic language, oral economy and how countries can increase tourism
presentations, contributions to a tutorial and to a particular area.
written assignments.
Critical thinking
Moving from teaching general to academic English Students are encouraged to ask why and how
Many of the teaching techniques and approaches used throughout the course, and to relate information
in general English teaching can be transferred to the from a particular text to their own selves or their
teaching of academic English. The differences are own country/area. They are shown the importance
more to do with the syllabus and course content. of evaluating information and looking for stance or
Some of the key differences we have noted include: bias on the part of the speaker or writer.

Grammar
Most general English courses are driven by tense Discrete skills or integrated?
grammar. Since 80 per cent of academic English is In terms of presentation, Progressive Skills in English is
in a present tense, the focus needs to move from very definitely a discrete skills course. Research has
tenses to syntactic grammar. For more details on shown that students need to have a clear focus, with
this point, see Syntactic grammar for EAP below. measurable objectives in order to make real progress,
and this is only really possible if the skills are initially
Skills separated out. However, integration is the norm in the
A general English course will focus mainly on oral real world and, since the course aims to mimic real-
communication. Listening will be extremely varied, world skills usage, integration is automatic once one
from conversations and anecdotes to radio moves from presentation. For example, in the
programmes. Reading is often relegated to third receptive skills lessons, as in the real world, students
place and writing to a very distant fourth. For the have to make notes from reading and listening and
academic learner, reading and writing are at least then discuss their findings, thus bringing in writing
as important as the other skills. For more details, and speaking to listening and reading lessons. In the
see Discrete skills or integrated? below. productive skills lessons, as in the real world, students
have to research before producing, thus bringing in
Content reading and listening skills.
In EAP, listening to lectures will be more relevant
than listening to anecdotes and stories. Academic Receptive skills – listening and reading
students need to learn to ‘grab’ relevant Research strongly suggests that listening and reading
information from a lecture after one listening only. are based on a continuous interaction between top-
Similarly with reading, required content will mostly down and bottom-up processes. Top-down processes
be fact or theory or a mixture, rather than fiction prepare the listener or reader to understand the
and anecdote. Students need to be able to decide information in the text. Bottom-up processes ensure

8 Introduction
than the listener or reader can decode information in Productive skills – speaking and writing
real-time, i.e., as it is actually being heard or read. Production in speech and writing in the normal EFL
classroom is often more or less spontaneous and
Top-down processes personal. Students are asked to speak or write about
Before we can understand information, we need to themselves, their lives, families, opinions, etc., with
recognize the context. We expect to hear different very little preparation. This mimics real-life
things in a restaurant, for example, from a lecture conversation and, to some extent, real-life informal
room, or to read different things in a novel and a letter and email writing. This type of production is rare
religious text. We use context and co-text clues in Progressive Skills in English because it is not the
(pictures, newspaper headlines, diagrams) to model for production in the academic world.
activate schemata – pictures, we could say, of
familiar situations. In the process, the brain makes Production in academia begins with an assignment
available to us vocabulary, discourse structures and which requires research. The research almost always
background knowledge of the real world, which leads to note-taking. From these notes, an oral
help with bottom-up decoding. We start to develop presentation, tutorial contribution or written
hypotheses about the contents of the text, and we assignment is produced. There are normally three
continually predict the next word, the next phrase, stages to this production: drafting, editing and
the next discourse point or the next communicative rewriting. In Progressive Skills in English, we teach
value as we are listening or reading. In Progressive the idea of the TOWER of writing – thinking,
Skills in English, students are taught to bring top- organizing, writing (for the writer), editing, rewriting
down processing to bear on new listening and (for the reader / listener).
reading texts. The course works to build schemata
and background knowledge which will help students Syntactic grammar for EAP
to predict content, in general and in particular. In the Grammar in ELT has traditionally been seen as largely a
academic world, listening and reading normally have question of verb tense, and that certain tenses are
a productive by-product – detailed notes. ‘easy’ and others are ‘hard’. Progression through levels
Throughout Progressive Skills in English, students are conventionally equates to the ability to manipulate
taught to take notes and to use these notes in later different tenses, from present simple of the verb be at
activities to prove comprehension of the text. beginner level to present perfect continuous passive
modal at advanced level. Most best-selling courses
Bottom-up processes follow a structural syllabus which is largely a verb
Top-down processes enable listeners and readers to tense syllabus. However, English is a syntactic
get a good general idea of what will be heard or language where meaning is carried by word order
read in a text. However, to get a detailed and rather than paradigmatic form. We cannot recover the
accurate understanding, the text must be broken meaning of a word or its role without a sentence or
down into meaningful units. In the case of spoken text context, because English words are not marked in
English, this means being able to turn the stream most instances for part of speech or case. Many words
of speech into actual words, which in turn means can be nouns or verbs depending on context; like, to
knowing the phonological code of English. With take an extreme example, can be a noun, a verb, a
written English, it is slightly easier if your first preposition or an adjective. Any noun can be the
language has a similar orthography to English, but subject or object of a verb; only pronouns are marked
will continue to pose problems for students whose for case, e.g., He told him.
L1 is Chinese or Arabic, for example. Research has
shown that we use syntax to achieve this breaking Research has shown that native speakers use their
into meaningful units (see below on syntactic knowledge of English syntax, together with their
grammar). In Progressive Skills in English, students vocabulary, to decode sentences in speech and in
are taught to recognize all the phonemes of writing. They do this in real time. In other words,
English in context and to identify multi-syllable native speakers are constantly constructing tree
words from the stressed syllable in the stream of diagrams of incoming data which help them to predict
speech. They also learn to identify written words the next item and its role in the ongoing sentence.
from the first two or three letters, a key skill which
enables native speakers to understand written text It is somewhat strange that this key fact seems to have
at high speed. Students are also exposed to gone unnoticed for so long by ELT practitioners. The
common syntactic patterns and practise breaking reason is probably that most ELT classwork, for many
up incoming language into subject, verb, object / decades, has been based on spoken interaction, often
complement and adverbial. of informal conversation, rather than the individual

Introduction 9
 interacting with and decoding in real time a formal true/false. This type of activity has no correlate in the
spoken or written text. Corpus research now shows us real world, where listening has to be real-time – there
that conversation in English has an average phrase is no opportunity for a second or subsequent hearing
length of just over one word, and very short – and reading should be real-time if it is to be
sentences, such as I went there, She likes him, He’s efficient. Comprehension occurs as the sentence is
working in a bank. In short sentences like this, the being received. However, real-time comprehension is
most salient area of difficulty is the verb form which only possible if the receiver understands the syntactic
must be dropped between the subject and the object, structures possible in the language and identifies, in
complement or adverbial. However, in academic or real time, the structure being used at a particular time.
formal discourse, the average phrase length jumps to The listener or reader is then ready for the required
eight words. Analysis of this genre shows that noun components of that structure and predicts their
phrases are particularly long, with pre- and post- appearance and even the actual words. For example,
modification of the head noun, and subject noun once a native speaker hears the verb give, they will
phrases are often preceded themselves by long anticipate that a person and a thing will complete the
adverbial phrases, so that a sentence may have a large utterance. Even if the ‘person’ noun phrase contains
number of words before the subject and more words many words, the receiver will be waiting. For example:
before the main verb. For example: The state gives unemployed people with a large
According to research at the University of Reading into the number of children under the age of 18 still in full-
problems experienced by children growing up with a single time education ... The native-speaker listener or reader
parent, children from one-parent families in deprived areas have is thinking, ‘What? What does it give?’ Conversely, the
a much greater chance of developing personality disorders.
construction of extended formal text in speech and
The native speaker has little problem with this writing also requires a deep understanding of syntax,
sentence, either in speech or writing, because he/she otherwise it is not possible to construct sentences of
knows that the phrase According to is not the subject the complexity required by the genre.
and the subject will come along in a while, and that
children can be post-modified so he/she must wait for While writing the syllabus for Skills in English, first
this noun phrase to end before encountering the verb, published by Garnet Education in 2003, we were
etc. The non-native speaker, trained in decoding simple struck by the points above and began work on the
short utterances, will have considerable difficulty. implications for classroom practice. In Progressive Skills
in English, we feel we have gone some way to
Complex tenses are in fact not at all common in presenting a coherent syllabus of relevant practice to
academic/formal English. Research shows that the build the skills required for real-time comprehension.
majority of sentences in this genre are in the present
simple, including its passive forms, for the obvious Syntactic grammar at Level 1
reason that most formal English presents facts, By this stage in their studies, students are probably
theories or states of being, which are rendered in fully familiar with parts of speech and with the most
English by this tense. The next most common tense is common syntactic patterns (see tables 1 and 2 below).
the past simple, because the genre often contains Since we cannot assume this familiarity, however,
historical background to current facts, theories or these points are quickly revised in the first few sections
states of being, which in turn is normally rendered in of the course. Thereafter, students are exposed mainly
past simple. In one particular corpus study, only one to basic S V O/C/A patterns, with co-ordination.
example of the present perfect continuous was found Gradually, the length of the object noun phrase or
in the whole academic/formal corpus. A student complement is extended and co-ordination is
equipped with facility in these two tenses will introduced but with no ellipsis of subject or verb. This
understand the tense information in around 90 per should ensure that students begin to get a natural feel
cent of academic/formal sentences. However, they for these patterns, can recognize them in real time in
may not understand the noun phrases and adverbial listening and reading, and produce them in speech
phrases which surround these ‘simple’ tenses. and writing.

There is a final key issue which applies in general to

long texts in the EFL classroom. In the main, when
students are exposed to longer texts with a formal
structure, they are allowed, even encouraged, to
engage in multiple listenings or multiple readings
before being asked to complete an after-doing
comprehension task such as multiple choice or

10 Introduction
Table 1: Sentence roles and parts of speech wholly new methodology is required to teach the
course. On the one hand, exercise naming means that
Roles in Possible parts Notes
the purpose of new types of exercise is immediately
sentences of speech
clear. On the other, many traditional types of ELT
Subject noun, pronoun extended noun phrase exercises are used in the course, with only slight
can contain other parts
Object noun, pronoun of speech, e.g., a very changes. The most significant of these changes are
large piece of research shown in Table 3 below.
Complement noun, an object becomes a
adjective, complement when it has Table 3: Adaptations to traditional exercise types
adverb the same reference as the Traditional Progressive Skills version
subject, such as in exercise
sentences with be and
related verbs, e.g., She is grammar - Parts of sentence are clearly shown with
a doctor. He was late. tables subject, verb, object/complement/
They seem tired. adverbial columns.
- Parts of speech are clearly shown with
Verb verb extended verb phrase can colour-coding.
contain adverbs, e.g., purple = noun
They are still waiting. red = verb
Adverbial adverb, note that this role in a blue = pronoun
prepositional sentence can be filled by orange = adjective
phrase a prepositional phrase as green = preposition
well as by an adverb, brown = adverb
e.g., He works hard. She gap fill In some cases, one part of speech is
works in a bank. removed so students can see the various
contexts in which, e.g., a pronoun can
Table 2: Main sentence patterns in English appear. In other cases, one role in the
sentence is removed, e.g., the subject, so
We left. SV students can see the different words
which can make up this role.
She is a doctor. SVC
sentence Words are jumbled in a number of
I am cold. SVC anagrams sentences in the traditional way, but
They were late. SVA when students have unscrambled them,
all the sentences have the same syntactic
We have been to the back. SVA structure, e.g., S V O A.
Words in a particular phrase are kept
I gave her the book. SVOO
together during the jumbling, e.g., in the
They made him president. SVOC UK, rather than all being split; this helps
students to think in terms of syntactic
I told her to leave. SVOV blocks rather than individual words.
We saw them later. SVOA transformation Traditional transformation, e.g., positive
Accept responsibility. VO to negative, appears regularly, but in
addition, active to passive is introduced
early on in the course, because of the
Exercise naming relatively high frequency of passives in
Many ELT course books give general names to groups academic English.
of exercises, such as Presentation or Pronunciation. joining Sentences are joined by co-ordinators from
Progressive Skills in English goes much further and sentences the beginning of Progressive Skills in
names the target activity for each exercise in its English, but the second half of the
sentence retains all its features, e.g.,
heading, e.g., Activating ideas or Predicting the next subject, verb, negation, for most of Level 1.
word. By this simple means, both teacher and This is because co-ordinated sentences
students are informed of the purpose of an exercise. with ellipses hide the kernel syntactic
Make sure that your students understand the heading structure with which we want students to
of each exercise so they can see clearly the point become familiar, e.g., Some people do not
know about the problem or care. The
which is being presented or practised. second half of this sentence is originally:
Some people do not care about the
Exercise types problem but with the ellipsis, the subject,
As is probably clear already, Progressive Skills in the negation and the object disappear.
English contains many original features, but teachers
and course leaders need not be concerned that a

Introduction 11
 Vocabulary lists skills presentations. It is the writers’ experience that
Vocabulary is a key part of language learning of any many students who have gone through a modern ELT
kind but it is even more important for the student of course have heard of the majority of skills points but
academic English. Students need a huge vocabulary in cannot make practical use of them. If you feel, in a
order to understand or produce the lexical cohesion particular case, that the students have no idea about
common to this genre. The reading and writing the point in question, spend considerably longer on a
sections in every theme begin with a vocabulary list of full presentation.
about 40 items in the right-hand column of the first
lesson. This list contains items from the skill section In most cases, the students are given an activity to do
which are linked to the theme. The part of speech is before looking at the Skills Check, thus a test-teach-
given in every case for single items. In addition, there test approach is used. This is quite deliberate. With
is sometimes information on the precise meaning in this approach, there is a good chance that the
the context of the theme, e.g., area (n) [= location] (as students will be sensitized to the particular point
opposed to field of study, for example). There is space before being asked to understand it intellectually. This
at the bottom of each list for students to add three or is likely to be more effective than talking about the
four more words that they wish to learn. point and then asking the student to try to apply it.
The positioning of the Skills Checks means that the
Most of the items in each list are probably new to the information relevant to an activity or set of activities is
majority of the students in any class. A few of the available for consultation by the student at any time.
items are likely to be known, but are so central to the Because some students have an inductive learning
theme that they are included for revision. style (working from example to rule) and some have a
deductive style (working from rule to example), the
Normally, about 40 per cent of the words in the list are Skills Checks have rules and examples.
presented in the Vocabulary lesson, with some You can use the Skills Checks in a number of ways:
reference made to perhaps another 10 per cent. The • ask students to read out the rules and the examples
remaining words will be encountered in other lessons • get students to give you more examples of
and either specifically taught or understood in context. each point
• ask students to read the Skills Check and then
You can use the lists in a number of ways: cover it; read it out with mistakes or with wrong
• ask students to look at the list before the start of examples of the point being presented
the skill section and tick the words they ‘know’; do • at the end of the lesson, ask students to tell you
not test the students this time but encourage them the new skill(s) they have encountered, without
to be honest looking at their Course Books
• ask students to repeat this activity at the end of the
skill section, and again one week and one month Pronunciation Checks
later. On these occasions, test the students’ In the speaking section, and occasionally in the
knowledge, particularly in the relevant skill, e.g., listening section, there are Pronunciation Checks.
to check that students can spell the words from a In Level 1, these chiefly focus on phoneme
writing section discrimination. For example, in Theme 2 Listening,
• get students to mark the stress on each word as one Pronunciation Check deals with hearing the two
they encounter it phonemes // and /ɑ /, while in Theme 2 Speaking,
• get students to underline or highlight in some way another deals with the actual production of the two
unusual spelling and pronunciation points phonemes. The examples in these checks are
• put students into pairs or groups to test each other recorded, so you can give students good models of
• allow students to write a translation beside some the target point and then drill the items (see Further
or all of the words speaking practice / drilling below). Sometimes
there is additional practice material to be completed
Please note: flashcards and detailed notes on using after working through the check.
them can be found on the Progressive Skills in English
website, www.skillsinenglish.com.

Skills Checks
In every theme, there is at least one Skills Check. The
naming of this feature is significant. It is assumed that
many if not all students will have heard about the skills
points in these boxes, i.e., they are skills checks not

12 Introduction
 Recurrent activities Previewing vocabulary
This is a pre-teaching activity. Sometimes key
As mentioned above, all exercises are named. Many of vocabulary is required in order to complete a task later
these names appear regularly throughout the course, in a lesson. This key vocabulary is presented and needs
sometimes with slight changes. This is because these to be practised thoroughly so it is fully available to
activities are particularly valuable in language learning. students during the coming lesson.

Activating (background) knowledge / ideas Hearing / Understanding / Studying a model /

In line with basic communication theory, the lessons discourse structure
always try to move from the known to the unknown. Progressive Skills in English follows the principle that
This activity at the start of a lesson allows students to students must see or hear what they are later asked to
show that they have knowledge or ideas about the real produce in speech or writing. In this exercise, they
world before learning new information. It also enables work with a model in order to recognize key features,
the teacher to gauge what is already known, and build such as discourse structure.
on it if necessary, before moving further into the lesson.
Practising a model
While students are talking about a particular area, they Clearly, once students have seen key points about
are in effect activating schemata, which means they are a model they should be given the opportunity to
more ready for further information in the same area. produce the text.

Understanding words in context Producing a model

Research shows that it is possible to work out the This is the third stage, after ‘understanding’ and
meaning of a small proportion (perhaps ten per cent) ‘practising’. Students are given a task which requires
of words in a text, if the remaining words and the production of a parallel text.
structures are well known. This activity guides students,
perhaps through multiple matching, to show Producing key patterns
understanding of new items. This is related to producing a model, but is at the
sentence level.
Transferring information (to the real world) /
Using new skills in a real-world task Showing comprehension
It is essential that information is transferable outside Comprehension in the real world is a real-time activity
of the classroom. This activity tries to make the bridge and is something which happens in the brain: it is not
between information learnt in class and applications in directly observable. However, it is essential that both
the real world. teachers and students see that comprehension has
taken place. But remember, this sort of activity is a test
Reviewing key words of comprehension not a sub-skill in comprehension.
Students are often given the opportunity to recall words
from the previous lesson(s) of a skill section. This helps Researching information
students to move information into long-term memory. Progressive Skills in English is not convergent. Students
are only sent back to their pre-existing ideas of
Identifying a new skill knowledge at the beginning of lessons, in Activating
The methodology of Progressive Skills in English, as knowledge / ideas. Progressive Skills is divergent.
detailed above, is that students are presented with a Students are sent off to research and bring back
text in the Real-time lesson which contains some information in order to give a talk, take part in a
recycled skills points and one or more new skills tutorial or produce a written text.
points. The students are not directed formally to the
new point(s) but may notice while they are doing the Developing vocabulary
real-time activity. Then in the next lesson, they are Students of academic English need constantly to
formally directed to the point(s). This is in line with the develop their vocabulary knowledge. This exercise
principle of noticing before learning. extends their existing vocabulary.

Predicting content Developing independent learning

Listening and reading are real-time skills. The listener Clearly, the ultimate aim of teaching a language is that
must be ahead of the speaker; the reader must be students become independent learners who do not need
ahead of the text. Activities in this type of exercise a teacher to acquire new linguistic knowledge. This activity
help students to get ahead. gives students a particular sub-skill to aid this process.

Introduction 13
 Developing critical thinking Ask students if they think the conversations take place
We must take students beyond the ‘what’ and the in a formal or informal context. In Theme 1, for
‘when’ of information. We must get them to react to example, the conversations are obviously between two
information and to ask why something happened or students so are more informal. In Theme 2, some of
why it is important. the conversations take place with members of staff, so
these conversations are more formal. If conversations
Remembering real-world knowledge are formal, it is always important to remind students
Progressive Skills in English is based on the theory to use polite intonation.
that people need a framework of knowledge in order
to understand new information as they read or hear Once any tasks set in the Course Book have been
it. Therefore, they need to remember real-world completed, and you have checked students
knowledge from lessons, not just vocabulary, skills understand the conversations, you can use the
and grammar. conversations for intensive pronunciation practice.
Use one or more of the following activities:
Using / Applying a key skill • Play the audio, pausing after each line for students
Skills are learnt. Then they need to be applied. This to listen and repeat, chorally and individually.
activity always connects directly to Identifying a new • Drill some of the phrases from the conversations,
skill in an earlier lesson in the skill section. chorally then individually.
• Students practise the conversations in pairs, from
Making and checking hypotheses the full transcript or from prompts.
Real-time listening and reading is about making and • Students practise the conversations again, but
checking hypotheses. This is what makes it a real-time substituting their own information, words or
activity. Students need to learn a wide range of points phrases where appropriate.
about discourse, vocabulary and syntax which helps • Students extend the conversation by adding further
with making hypotheses. They then need to be given lines of dialogue.
the opportunity to check these hypotheses. • Students invent a completely new conversation for
the situation, function or photograph.
• Add some drama to the conversations by asking
students to act out the conversations with
Methodology different contexts, relationships or emotions
(e.g., one student should act angry and the other
Everyday English student bored).
These additional lessons are designed to give
university students some survival English for university Monitor and give feedback after paired practice. You
life. The language and topics are freestanding so the may want to focus on:
lessons can be done at any time during the skill • intonation of yes / no questions
section or theme, or can be missed out completely • stressed words in short answers, e.g., Yes, it is. Yes,
should you so wish. The page could last a whole it does.
lesson or you could spend a shorter time and only • accurate use of auxiliary do in present
work on two or three of the conversations. The simple questions.
format of all the Everyday English lessons is similar,
with between four and six mini-dialogues on a similar Knowledge / Vocabulary quiz
topic or with a similar function. Although this is an optional part of each theme, the
idea behind it is central to the approach of Progressive
Here are some ways of exploiting each stage of Skills in English. We have found from our work with
the lesson: universities around the world that students often fail
to understand a text not because the English grammar
You may wish to highlight the grammar of some of is above their level, but because they do not have the
the forms used in the conversations, but in general framework of real-world knowledge or the breadth of
they can be learnt as phrases without going into too topic-specific vocabulary in order to comprehend. This
much explanation. Indeed, many of the forms that we page makes these items central, but revises and tests
often spend a lot of time on in class could probably be them in a variety of enjoyable ways. There are several
better learnt as fixed phrases, since their usage in ways in which this page can be used. The
everyday life is so limited, e.g., How long have you Methodology notes for each theme suggest a
been learning English? particular way or ways on each occasion, but broadly
the page can be done as:

14 Introduction
• a quiz for individuals, pairs or groups where it Oral presentations
appears, i.e., at the end of the reading section To start with, these should be no more than a few
• a quiz, but later in the course, when students have sentences long. The organization of the
had a chance to forget some of the knowledge presentations is crucial and will depend on how
and/or vocabulary much time you have and the number of students in
• a quiz, but before the students do the theme; keep your class.
the answers and see how much they have learnt • Formal and teacher-centred
after doing the theme Set another activity for the class, or ask another
• a self-study test; students write their answers and teacher to do something with your class.
hand them in, or self-mark in a later lesson in class Remove one student at a time (or one group, if
• a phase of a lesson – the teacher sets the task(s) in the presentation is a collaboration) to another
the normal way and feeds back orally. room so that you can listen to the presentation.
• Student-centred to some extent
Portfolio Students give presentations to other groups of
The main features of the Portfolio lessons are: students in the class. You may have between
• versatility two and four presentations going on at the
It is possible to spend anything from part of a single same time. Monitor as many as you possibly
lesson to four lessons on the activities; in addition, can. Make a note of students you have listened
some, all or none of the work can be done in class. to and make sure you listen to different
• integrated skills students next time round.
All four skills are included in this lesson, though the • Student-centred and informal approach,
focus will shift depending on the activity. requiring a mature class
• academic skills Students give presentations to their groups as
The focus is on researching, digesting and above. However, the ‘listening’ students give
exchanging information, and presenting feedback after the talk, rather than you.
information orally or in writing.
• learner independence It is important that if you have students listening to
At all stages from research through to oral or talks, they are not simply ‘passive’ listeners. They
written presentations, the teacher should be in will switch off and get bored. Wherever possible,
the roles of monitor, guide and, if necessary, therefore, assign tasks. This is relatively easy if
manager, and should try to avoid being the students are listening to new information: they can
‘knower’ and ‘controller’! complete notes or write answers to questions.
However, if they are listening to talks similar to
Here are some ways of exploiting each stage of the lesson: their own, give the ‘listening’ students feedback or
comment sheets to complete (see below).
Activating ideas
Use the photographs in the book or show your Table 4: Example feedback form for group tasks
own. Make sure students have the key vocabulary
for all the activities. Did the speaker ... Always Sometimes Never
look up from notes?
Gathering information
The course provides listening and reading texts. You make eye contact?
can suggest extra internet research if you wish. The speak loudly
information is often presented as an information gap, enough?
with groups listening to different texts then talk at correct
regrouping in order to exchange information. At first, speed?
you may need to suggest the best way to take notes, use good intonation
e.g., in a table with relevant headings. Later, however, patterns?
you should encourage students to design their own
use good visuals /
note-taking tables and headings. At all stages, PowerPoint slides?
encourage students to help each other with
give all the
comprehension or any problems, only calling on you important points?
as a last resort. The research stages can be done in
class or for homework. However, check the research introduce the talk?
has been done effectively and reasonably thoroughly conclude the talk?
before moving on to the presentation stages.

Introduction 15
 Please note: many of the above suggestions for • a complete project on the topic, containing
oral presentations in the Portfolio lesson, including several different articles with accompanying
the feedback form, are also relevant for lessons in visuals; this can be worked on individually or
the speaking sections. produced together in a group.

Feedback on oral presentations Giving feedback on writing

You can choose between giving formal, written For work set for completion in class:
feedback to individual students, and more informal Monitor and give some help to individuals. Make a
oral feedback to each group or the whole class. note of common errors, i.e., mistakes that two or
Formal written feedback could be based on a more students make. Then give feedback to the
checklist of speaking sub-skills such as those whole class. You can use the technique described
provided by IELTS or Cambridge ESOL for the FCE. above for feedback on oral errors; write the
Alternatively, you may prefer to devise your own incorrect sentences the students have produced on
checklist with broader headings, e.g., the board and elicit the correct version.
• accuracy
• fluency For work that you collect in:
• pronunciation It is important not to get bogged down in detailed
• grammar corrections and/or piles of written work waiting to
• vocabulary, etc. be marked. For this reason, do not set too much
written work as home assignments! You could, of
Informal feedback should include some positive course, ask students to comment on each other’s
and encouraging statements, as well as showing writing in a phase in a later lesson, but this only
students what they need to work on. With the works with relatively mature classes. Always set
scaffolding in Progressive Skills in English, students the length of the task: 200–400 words is probably
should not make a large number of mistakes in enough for Level 1 of this course.
producing spoken or written work, so it should be
easier than otherwise to focus on a small number Establish a marking key with the class early on in
of areas for improvement. Make a note of the course. For example, sp = spelling,
grammar or vocabulary mistakes you hear while p = punctuation, gr = grammar, and use the
monitoring the class. Write the incorrect language grading grids provided for each theme’s final
on the board. Elicit from the class what the mistake writing task. This means you are able to highlight
is and how to correct it. Drill the correct sentence. the problem areas but leave students to make
Practise any words, phrases, sentences or questions the corrections.
that you noted were poorly pronounced.
Focus on only two or three key areas each time you
Whichever method of feedback you choose, give mark. Initially, these may simply be presentation
the class one or two targets to work on for the next and layout, e.g., using paragraphs, but later could
oral presentation, e.g., ‘Look up from notes more include using more complex noun phrases or more
often.’ Even better, ask students to each set formal language. Later you can focus on sub-skills
themselves a target for next time. Suggest ideas, such as organization and discourse, cohesion,
which can be discrete (such as about the longer sentences, etc.
pronunciation of a particular sound) or much
broader (such as about making clearer notes). We have tried to provide model answers wherever
Students should make a note of their target for next possible, even for open-ended activities like the
time and you can check it if you wish. writing and speaking assignments. Always show
these to the class and discuss possible variations, in
Dealing with writing order to avoid the models being too prescriptive. If
In the Portfolio, you can adapt the final activity as you have students with good writing skills, ask their
you wish. You may like to give further practice of permission to show their written work to the class
writing a full assignment-type essay, but there are as example answers.
other writing activities that are worth doing:
• notes only, possibly in a table Listening
• PowerPoint slides ‘How many times should I play the audio of lectures?’
• a poster or wall presentation, particularly if you This is a question we are often asked by teachers. On
can display these publicly the one hand, we need to train our students to deal
• a one-paragraph summary with the real-life lecture situation, in which students

16 Introduction
will only have the opportunity to hear the information given a sample below. (The examples are all based on
once. On the other hand, students may simply not Theme 1 Speaking.)
understand the lecture after only one playing. So what
is the solution? • Simple repetition, chorally and individually
• Firstly, it is important to make sure all the pre- Highlight the pronunciation area you want to focus
listening activities are carried out effectively so that on when you model the sentence or question, e.g.,
students can begin to predict the lecture content. showing the intonation pattern with your hand, or
• Next, play the first section of the lecture once only using an intonation arrow on the board.
for completion of the exercise or activity; this is a
kind of ‘test’ to find out how well students would • Question and answer
perform in the ‘real-life’ situation. It also trains When do you take national exams in your country?
students to listen for as much information as We take them at 16 and 18.
they can on the first hearing. Check how well (Do not simply accept 16 and 18 in a controlled
students have completed the task and elicit the practice phase – encourage a full sentence.)
correct answers. Alternatively, you can practise short answers. Tell
• Once you have confirmed the correct answers, students if you require yes answers or no answers:
move on to the next section of the lecture Is a nursery school for young children?
and corresponding exercise. Repeat the Yes, it is.
above procedure. Does primary mean ‘first’?
• When students have heard all the sections of the Yes, it does.
lecture, replay the complete lecture, with or Do most children leave school at 18?
without the transcript. This is where learning takes Yes, they do.
place, because students have the opportunity to
see why they missed information or did not fully • Transformation
understand during the first playing. These examples focus on forms of the present
• Finally, as a follow-up, students should be simple tense.
encouraged to listen to the complete lecture Many children begin school at seven.
several times on their own at home, both with and Sorry, but they don’t begin school at seven. OR
without the transcript. Actually, they begin school at five.

What other strategies can the teacher use? • Substitution

• Remember that the key to comprehension in a Say a phrase or sentence and ask the class to
foreign language is prediction, so students must repeat it. Then give prompts that can be
have time to assimilate what they have just heard substituted as follows:
and predict what is coming next. You can pause History is a very important subject at school.
the lecture any number of times during the first useful
listening if you think your class needs this extra History is a very useful subject at school.
time. But, of course, pause at logical points – isn’t
certainly the end of sentences and preferably the History isn’t a very useful subject at school.
end of topic points. university
History isn’t a very useful subject at university.
What other strategies can the students use? Drama
• Nowadays, most lecturers in the real world provide Drama isn’t a very useful subject at university.
pre-lecture reading lists and notes, PowerPoint
slides and visuals, and handouts. Summaries are • Prompts
also often available on the university’s portal. There These can be given orally or they can be written on
are PowerPoints available for the lectures on the the board. They are particularly good for practising
Progressive Skills in English website. Students question forms:
should be made aware of all of these resources and Nursery / young children?
encouraged to use them. Is a nursery school for young children?
When / take / A levels?
Further speaking practice / drilling When do you take A levels?
In the notes for individual speaking lessons, we often
say ‘practise the sentences with the class’. You can use
one or more of the example drilling techniques below.
There are many other techniques, but we have just

Introduction 17
 Setting up tasks • that the students are performing the correct task,
The teaching notes for many activities begin with the in the correct way
word Set … This single word covers a number of vital • that the students understand the language of the
functions for the teacher, as follows: task they are performing
- Refer students to the rubric, or instructions. • the elements which need to be covered again for
- Check that they understand what to do: get one or the benefit of the whole class, and which points
two students to explain the task in their own words. need to be dealt with on an individual basis with
- Tell the students how they are to do the task, if this particular students.
is not clear in the rubric (as individual work,
pairwork, or group work). Feedback
- Go through the example, if there is one. If not, At the end of every activity there should be a feedback
make it clear what the target output is: full stage, during which the correct answers (or a model
sentences, short answers, notes, etc. Many activities answer, in the case of freer activities) is given,
fail in the classroom because students do not know alternative correct answers (if any) are accepted, and
what they are expected to produce. wrong answers are discussed.
- Go through one or two of the actual prompts,
working with an able student to elicit the required Feedback can be:
output. • high-speed, whole class, oral – this method is
suitable for cases where short answers with no
Use of visuals possible variations are required
There is a large amount of visual material in the book. • individual, oral – this method is suitable where
This should be exploited in a number of ways: answers are longer and/or where variations
- before an activity, to orientate the students; to get are possible
them thinking about the situation or the activity • individual, onto the board – this method is suitable
and to provide an opportunity for a small amount when the teacher will want to look closely at the
of pre-teaching of vocabulary correct answers to highlight points of interest
- during the activity, to remind students of or confusion.
important language
- after the activity, to help with related work or to Remember, learning does not take place, generally
revise the target language. speaking, when a student gets something right.
Learning usually takes place after a student has got
Pronunciation something wrong and begins to understand why it
Only the speaking section of each theme directly is wrong.
focuses on oral production. In this section, you must
ensure that all the students in your group have Confirmation and correction
reasonable pronunciation of all target items. Elsewhere, Many activities benefit from a learning tension, i.e., a
in the other skill sections, it is important that you do not period of time when students are not sure whether
spend too long on oral production. However, do not let something is right or wrong. The advantages of this
students get away with poor production of basic words, tension are:
even if the focus of the lesson is not speaking. • a chance for all students to become involved in an
activity before the correct answers are given
Comparing answers in pairs • a higher level of concentration from students –
This activity is suggested on almost every occasion tension is quite enjoyable!
when the students have completed an activity • a greater focus on the item as students wait for the
individually. This provides all students with a chance to correct answer
give and to explain their answers, which is not • a greater involvement in the process – students
possible if the teacher immediately goes through the become committed to their answers and want to
answers with the whole class. know if they are right and if not, why not.

Monitoring In cases where learning tension of this type is

Pairwork and group work activities are, of course, an desirable, the detailed teaching notes say Do not
opportunity for the students to produce spoken confirm or correct (at this point).
language. This is clearly important in the speaking
section but elsewhere, these interactional patterns Highlighting grammar
provide an opportunity for the teacher to check three The expression Highlight the grammar is often used in
points: the teaching notes. This expression means:

18 Introduction
- Focus the students’ attention on the grammar point, dealt with in the following way. Ask students to:
e.g., Look at the verb in the first sentence. • guess the way to complete the phrase, sentence
- Write an example of the target grammar on or pair
the board. • match the two parts from each column
- Ask a student to read out the sentence/phrase. • cover column 2 and remember these parts from
- Demonstrate the grammar point in an appropriate the items in column 1
way (see below). • cover column 1 and remember these parts from
- Refer to the board throughout the activity if the items in column 2.
students are making mistakes.
Ways of dealing with different grammar points: Additional activities are:
• for word order, show the order of items in the • students test each other in pairs
sentence by numbering them, e.g., • you read out column 1 – students complete with
1 2 3 4 items from column 2, books closed
They often have a special party. • students write as many of the items as they can
remember – Course Books closed.
• for paradigms, show the changes with different
persons of the verb, e.g., Ordering
I go Several different kinds of linguistic elements can be
He goes given out of order for students to arrange correctly.
The ability to put things in the correct order strongly
Self-checking indicates comprehension of the items. In addition, it
On a few occasions during the course, the teaching reinforces syntactic structure, particularly if:
notes encourage you to ask the students to check • you present a number of jumbled sentences
their own work. This can be done by referring together with the same underlying syntax
students to the full transcript at the end of the course. • you keep elements of each phrase together, e.g.,
This is an excellent way to develop the students’ in the UK rather than breaking everything down to
recognition and correction of error. Listening, in word level.
particular, obviously happens inside someone’s head,
and in the end each student has to understand his/her This type of activity is sometimes given before
own error or misunderstanding. students listen or read; the first listening or reading
task is then to check the order. To make the exercise
Gap fill more enjoyable, and slightly easier, it is a good idea to
Filling in missing words or phrases in a sentence or photocopy the items and cut them into strips or single
text, or labelling a map or diagram indicates words. Students can then physically move the items
comprehension of both the missing items and the and try different ordering. The teacher can even make
context in which they correctly fit. It is generally better a whiteboard set of sentences and encourage
to provide the missing items to ensure that all the students to arrange or direct the arrangement of the
required items are available to all the students. In items on the board.
addition, the teacher can vary the approach to gap fills
by sometimes going through the activity with the Tables and charts
whole class, orally, pens down, then setting the same Students are often asked to transfer information into
task individually. Gap fills or labelling activities can be a table. This activity is a good way of testing
photocopied and set as revision at the end of the unit comprehension, as it does not require much linguistic
or later, with or without the missing items box. output from the students at a time when they should
be concentrating on comprehension. Once the table
In Progressive Skills in English, gaps often contain the has been completed, it can form the basis of:
same kind of word (e.g., nouns) or the same role in a • a checking activity – students compare their tables,
sentence (e.g., the subject) in order to reinforce word note and discuss differences
class and syntax. • a reconstruction activity – students give the
information in the table in full, in speech or writing.
Two-column activities
This type of activity is generally better than a list of Error correction
open-ended questions or gap fill with no box of It was once thought that showing students an error
missing items, as it ensures that all the target reinforced the error, and that students would be even
language is available to the students. However, the more likely to make that error in the future. We now
activity is only fully effective if the two columns are know that recognizing errors is a vital part of language

Introduction 19
 learning. Rather than reinforcing the error, showing it
can serve to highlight the problem much better than
any number of explanatory words. Students must be
able to recognize errors, principally in their own work,
and correct them. For this reason, error recognition
and correction activities are occasionally used.

20