Needs analysis
READ AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
1.
How often do you use English in your everyday life?
all day
once or twice a day
once a week
once a month
rarely
never
2. In what media do you use English?
Reading
newspapers
faxes
e-mails
letters
novels
other
Writing
Talking
on the phone
socially
in meetings
giving presentations
interviews
other
memos
faxes
e-mails
letters
articles
prose
Attending
conferences
dinners
meetings
lectures
films
other
3. What functions do you frequently need to perform in English?
Socialising
Requesting
Negotiating
Interrupting
Inviting
Promoting
Greeting
Describing
Presenting
Explaining
Agreeing
complaining
Enquiring
other
4. Which do you feel you need to improve? (Prioritise)
Grammar
Reading
Vocabulary
Listening
Speaking
Writing
Pronunciation
other
5. Which activities do you find useful?
listening to recordings
grammar exercises
drills
tests
reading texts
compositions
games
drama
Questionnaire
likes doing tests
likes talking to people in a foreign language
to be corrected when speaking a foreign language
prefers writing to speaking
can sing a song in a foreign language
likes to know what's going to be in a lesson
keeps beautifully neat notes
songs
discussions
dictations
other
Find someone who...
prefers dictionaries to computers
watches films in a foreign language
stores and remembers vocabulary in pictures
regularly revises what's been covered
keeps a learner diary
writes poetry in a foreign language
likes to choose their own homework tasks
Five students
Anna, Benhard, Caterina, David and Erika want to take lessons in English.
Who do you think they think will make the most progress, and why?
Anna is a 45-year-old librarian. She is good at research, and enjoys reading anything from novels to newspapers in her own
language, but isn't used to writing much. She was good at Russian at school, but she hasn't used it at all in the past decade. She
wants to learn English to give herself a new challenge and also because she's planning to visit relatives in Scotland.
Bernhad is a 32-year-old businessman who needs English for his work. He is a sales representative in a large company, and he is
required to use a telephone, write business letters, e-mails and faxes and attend conferences, all in English. He hated languages
at school and the need for English in the commercial world makes him anxious. He is very organised with paperwork and his
competent computer user.
Caterina is a 21-yearl-old law student and she needs English for her degree course as well as her future career as a solicitor. She
has already been studying English for 9 years and is at an intermediate level. She spent three months in London as a teenager
and loved it. She has IT skills and is used to reading and writing a lot in English. Her record as a student is mediocre; her
notebooks are a mess, and she often misses lectures and deadlines.
David is 65 and about to retire. He has been working as an interpreter and a translator for most of his life, specialising in
German and French. He wants to take up a new hobby for his retirement, but is not very adventurous and feels safe with
languages. Although he has never formally studied English, he has picked up quite a lot from his children (who all speak it) by
noticing similarities to his specialist languages.
Erika is a teenager at secondary school and is being sent to private English classes by her parents. She would rather spend her
free time listening to pop songs or in shopping malls with her friends. She loves her mobile phone, but dislikes computers. She
hates it when her teacher asks her to choose her own homework or discuss what they should study. She keeps neat notes, but
rarely looks at them until it's time for tests, in which she does quite well.
Make a list of positive and negative factors in language learning, based on these case studies.
Dictionary quiz
It's amazing what you can find out from a dictionary...
Meanings
What is an autopsy?
Spellings
Are these correct?
Pronunciation
Register
British/American English
Abbrevations
Grammar
A) a type of flower
B) written permission
C)the examination of a dead body
august, authorise, austeer
Which syllable is stressed in authoritarian?
Which is more formal, aunt or aunty?
What do Americans call autumn?
what does AA mean?
Which is uncountable, au pair, austerity?
What is the plural of aura, auxiliary, automatic?
What is the noun form of autonomous?
Coursebook quiz
You have 10 minutes!
1. What is the topic of unit 9?
2. Which units are about telephoning?
3. Is it possible to read what you hear on the CD? Where?
4. On which page could you see different examples of letters?
5. What useful reference section starts on page 134?
6. Are there any exercises to help your writing? Give a page number.
7. Are there any exercises to help your speaking? Give a page number.
8. Which unit covers indirect questions?
9. What pronunciation features are covered in unit 11?
10. Is there a list of verbs (patterns) in the book? Where?
Student self-evaluation form
1. I give myself the following grades for progress on this course. (Score 1-10)
speaking
listening
reading
writing
grammar
vocabulary
2. My notes are:
well-organised
complete
3. I review my notes:
regularly
clear
sometimes
4. I do my homework:
always
often
okay
messy
only before tests
sometimes
5. I speak English in class:
as much as possible
6. I speak my own language in class:
only when necessary
often
a lot
a lot
non-existent
never
rarely
never
often
a little
too much
7. My favourite class activities are:
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
8. I don't enjoy:
_________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
9. In my free time, I practise English using:
videos
cinema
books
computers
TV
theatre
magazines
videogames
radio
novels
newspapers
other
10. The main difficulties I have with studying English are:
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
