Chapter 5: Standing in the Spotlight: Presenting to the Class 75
Translation isn’t used in most EFL classrooms, but it’s an easy way to check
that students understand certain words. Sometimes you can do a straight, like-
for-like substitution from one language to another. In this case the students
translate in their heads by simply changing the label. However, checking a
concept can be a challenging exercise when different cultural or religious per-
ceptions are involved. For example, a bed may involve a mattress, headboard
and base for some, a mat on the floor for others or a hammock for yet another
culture. Is a bed a piece of furniture or just a place where you sleep?If you don’t make clear what the concept behind the English word is, lines can
become blurred.Boundaries also exist between one word and another, and you need to define
them. So for example what’s the difference between a bench and a sofa in prac-
tical and design terms? Clearly you can’t just describe them as long chairs.Concept check questions come in various forms:✓ Yes/no: It’s quick and easy to ask closed questions. So for example, if
you’re teaching vocabulary for vehicles you can ask:
- Is a van bigger than a car?
- Is a car bigger than a lorry?
Of course to make these questions work, the answer shouldn’t always be yes
or always no. If it is, the students can work at your pattern and just bluff.✓ Multiple choice: Offering students a range of possibilities is another
good way to concept check. Multiple choice questions don’t require
students to come up with the vocabulary for the answer themselves
but they do require a little more thought than closed questions if the
options are similar. For example, in a lesson on the present perfect, ask
students to tell you whether the action in the statement ‘I have seen the
pyramids’. is in the past, the present or both past and present.
✓ Open questions: When you ask students questions that start with words
like ‘who’, ‘how’ and ‘why’, their answers needs to go beyond ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
They really have to think about it and use their own words to explain.✓ Physical response: Another approach is to ask the students to actu-
ally do something to show they understand. A phrasal verb is a verb
together with a preposition that has a new meaning, often different from
the meaning of the verb by itself. ‘To pick’ means to select whereas the
phrasal verb ‘to pick up’ means to raise it from a surface. You can read
more about phrasal verbs in Chapter 17. So for example, during a lesson
on phrasal verbs including ‘pick up’ and ‘hold on’ you can give commands
such as: ‘Pick up your purple pen now but hold on until I say “Write this
down”’. If they do what you say you can tell that they understand.