Re: Teaching Workplace English - PPP (present-practice-production) & TBL (Task-Based Learning)

samwalker — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:17:29 GMT

Time Allotment Week 1

Â	A	B	C	D	F	G
1	Day 1			In Minutes	Â	Â
2	House Rules			15	Â	Â
3	Language is a Lifestyle			15	Â	Â
4	Background of the Approach			30	Â	Â
5	Grading Scheme			5	Â	Â
6	HR Orientation	Â	Â	90	Â	Â
7	Ventus Video			15	Â	Â
8	Introductions			45	Â	IMPORTANT NOTES:
9	Making Phone Calls			Â	Â	RECAP/REVIEW ROLE PLAYS are not graded. This is the best venue for either peer or trainer feedback
10	Â	Present		Â	Â	For group activities, ensure that all members are contributing or participating to maximize the learning.
11	Â	Â	Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions) Have you ever made a phone call before? How did you start the call? How did it end? Would you say the communication was successful? What was the purpose of the call? Did you get what you expected out of it? Share your experiences with a partner.	10	Â	Always pay close attention to pronunciation with every activity.
12	Â	Â	Systematization (present module on Sound Production)	45	Â	Â
13	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
14	Â	Â	Making Contact (Activity A)	25	Â	Â
15	Â	Â	Making Contact (Activity B)	25	Â	Â
16	Â	Â	Calling Back	25	Â	Â
17	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
18	Â	Â	Roleplay (scenarios)	60	Â	Â
19	Telephone English Roleplays			Â	Â	Â
20	Â	Present		Â	Â	Â
21	Â	Â	Running Dictation	15	Â	Â
22	Â	Â	Systematization (Modality:Â going to and will)	30	Â	Â
23	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
24	Â	Â	ABC Tech Scenario 1	20	Â	Â
25	Â	Â	ABC Tech Scenario 2	20	Â	Â
26	Â	Â	ABC Tech Scenario 3	20	Â	Â
27	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
28	Â	Â	Roleplay (trainees pair up and come up with their own scenarios)	30	Â	Â
29	Lunch			60	Â	Â
30	Breaks			30	Â	Â
31	Total Time			630	Â	Â
32	Day 2			In Minutes	Â	Â
33	RECAP/REVIEW ACTIVITY (Roleplay) - Making Phone Calls/ Sound Production			60	Â	Â
34	Complaints on the Telephone			Â	Â	Â
35	Â	Present		Â	Â	Â
36	Â	Â	Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions) Activity: Do you consider yourself a consumer? Share experiences with a group and then share with the rest of the class. Write down words associated with dissatisfaction.	15	Â	Â
37	Â	Â	Systematization (Different Types of Difficult Customers and How to Deal with Them)	45	Â	Â
38	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
39	Â	Â	Create your own Taboo	30	Â	Â
40	Â	Â	Complaints on the Telephone Activity C:Â Focus	30	Â	Â
41	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
42	Â	Â	Roleplay	60	Â	Â
43	Complaints on the Telephone			Â	Â	Â
44	Â	Pre-Task (list all the complaints you've made in a resto and categorize according to intention/function)		10	Â	Â
45	Â	Task		Â	Â	Â
46	Â	Â	Plan	10	Â	Â
47	Â	Â	Report	15	Â	Â
48	Â	Â	Analysis (Functions of Modal Verbs: Complaining, Softening the Message )	60	Â	Â
49	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
50	Â	Â	RoleplayÂ (Activity D)	60	Â	Â
51	Â	Quiz (Function of Modal Verbs and Aspects of Modality) PPT presentation for the questions		55	Â	Â
52	Lunch			60	Â	Â
53	Breaks			30	Â	Â
54	Total Time			540	Â	Â
55	Day 3			In Minutes	Â	Â
56	RECAP/REVIEW ACTIVITY			Â	Â	Â
57	Â	Modality (Task 2, page 3) Check-Up Activity		20	Â	Â
58	Â	Roleplay (Difficult Customers)		40	Â	Â
59	CALL 1 (Anna Pagtakhan) - Modality			Â	Â	Â
60	Â	Present		Â	Â	Â
61	Â	Â	Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions) Activity: Play by Play (ask the trainees to listen to the call. They will need to pick out confusing statements or utterances they feel are out of place, uncalled for, etc.	15	Â	Â
62	Â	Â	Systematization (Modality: Requesting for Information, Asking for Permission)	30	Â	Â
63	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
64	Â	Â	Identifying and Correcting Modals Used in the Call	30	Â	Â
65	Â	Â	Role Play with Corrections	45	Â	Â
66	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
67	Â	Â	Role Plays ( How Would You Do It Better? - Only change CSRs responses - roles will be played by trainees, switch it up after)	45	Â	Â
68	CALL 1 (Anna Pagtakhan) - Soft Skills			Â	Â	Â
69	Â	Present		Â	Â	Â
70	Â	Â	Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions) Activity: Play by Play (ask the trainees to listen to the call. Go through their original list and if they feel that they need to add more statements that are possible causes for communication breakdown, then let them do so.)	30	Â	Â
71	Â	Â	Systematization (Soft Skills: Overtones, Tone and Undertones )	30	Â	Â
72	Â	Â	Systematization (Phonology: Connected Speech and Elision )	15	Â	Â
73	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
74	Â	Â	Identifying undertones in the call and correcting tone	30	Â	Â
75	Â	Â	Role Play with Corrections	60	Â	Â
76	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
77	Â	Â	Role Plays ( How Would You Do It Better? - Only change CSRs responses - roles will be played by trainees, switch it up after)	60	Â	Â
78	Lunch	Â	Â	60	Â	Â
79	Breaks	Â	Â	30	Â	Â
80	Total Time	Â	Â	540	Â	Â
81	Day 4			In Minutes	Â	Â
82	RECAP/REVIEW ACTIVITY	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
83	Â	Roleplay (Not Graded, Just give feedback) - Modality and Soft Skills	Â	40	Â	Â
84	CALL 2 (Christopher Gavero)			Â	Â	Â
85	Â	Present		Â	Â	Â
86	Â	Â	Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions) Activity: Play by Play (ask the trainees to listen to the call. They will need to pick out confusing statements or utterances they feel are out of place, uncalled for, etc.	30	Â	Â
87	Â	Â	Systematization (Modality: Giving advice/suggestions; Offering )	40	Â	Â
88	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
89	Â	Â	Identifying and Correcting Modals Used in the Call	30	Â	Â
90	Â	Â	Role Play with Corrections	45	Â	Â
91	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
92	Â	Â	Role Plays ( How Would You Do It Better? - Same scenario)	60	Â	Â
93	CALL 1 and CALL 3 (Anna Pagtakhan and Lorelie Sanchez)	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
94	Â	Present		Â	Â	Â
95	Â	Â	Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions) Activity: Tag Team - An Exercise on Synonyms: Vocabulary Building - Word Mapping and Association	10	Â	Â
96	Â	Â	Systematization (Paraphrasing)	45	Â	Â
97	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
98	Â	Â	Identifying and Correcting Repetitive, Redundant and confusing statements. - Compare and Contrast	30	Â	Â
99	Â	Â	Role Play with Corrections	30	Â	Â
100	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
101	Â	Â	Role Plays (Change the CSRs responses for CALL 3)	60	Â	Â
102	Â	Â	QUIZ on Modality (Written)	30	Â	Â
103	Lunch			60	Â	Â
104	Breaks			30	Â	Â
105	Total Time			540	Â	Â
106	Day 5			In Minutes	Â	Â
107	RECAP/REVIEW ACTIVITY	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
108	Â	Roleplay (Modality and Paraphrasing)	Â	40	Â	Â
109	REVIEW for Written Exam	Â	Â	40	Â	Â
110	Â	WRITTEN EXAM: Application and Analysis		90	Â	Â
111	REVIEW for Final Role Play			40	Â	Â
112	Â	ORAL EXAM: One on One Role Play with Trainer	Â	240	Â	Â
113	Lunch	Â	Â	60	Â	Â
114	Breaks	Â	Â	30	Â	Â
115	Total Time	Â	Â	540	Â	Â

Time Allotment Week 2

Â	A	B	C	D	E	F
1	Day 6			In Minutes	Â	Â
2	RECAP/REVIEW ACTIVITY (Roleplay) -Sound Production/Modality/ Handling Difficult Customers/ Paraphrasing			60	Â	Â
3	Â	Present (CALL 4: Matthew Ignacio)		Â	Â	For group activities, ensure that all members are contributing or participating to maximize the learning.
4	Â	Â	Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions) Activity:Â I CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH. Divide the class into groups of five. Ask each group to come up with as many statements of fact that they can recall about the conversation they've listened to (i.e. The CSRs name is Matthew, etc.)	30	Â	Always pay close attention to pronunciation with every activity.
5	Â	Â	Systematization (Present the module on theÂ Present Simple TenseÂ )	45	Â	Â
6	Â	Practice (CALL 4: Matthew Ignacio)		Â	Â	Â
7	Â	Â	Filtering: Let the class listen to the call again, this time, give them the transcript as well. In groups, ask them to determine which statements are clearer if kept in the simple present tense.	60	Â	Â
8	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
9	Â	Â	RoleplayÂ (scenarios) - Ask the class to input their corrections into the call and then ask each pair to go through the motions of the call. Give immediate feedback.	80	Â	Â
10	CALL 5: Maria Josue			Â	Â	Â
11	Â	Present		Â	Â	Â
12	Â	Â	Running Dictation:Â (1)Make the trainees listen to the call in its entirety. (2)Ask them to take down important notes and details. (3) Divide them into groups. (4) Give them 3 strips of paper per group. (5) Ask them to write statements that are relevant to the call, one statement per strip. (6) Ask them to pick out one representative. (7) The facilitator will collect all the strips and give statements from one group to another group's representative. (8) The representative will only be able to look at the statements for 30 seconds. (9) Then he/she will have to pass all three messages to the person next to him in line until it's been relayed to rest of the group. (10) The last person in the group will have to repeat all three statements.	30	Â	Â
13	Â	Â	Systematization (Present module on theÂ Present Progressive Tense)	35	Â	Â
14	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
15	Â	Â	Pick Your Brains:Â The class will have to pick out the statements following the form of the progressive simple tense.	45	Â	Â
16	Â	Â	Editing and Processing:Â Determine which statements should have been more comprehensible if the statements were in the progressive tense.	45	Â	Â
17	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
18	Â	Â	RoleplayÂ (trainees pair up and come up with their own conversation using the same concern as that in Call 5)	80	Â	Â
19	Lunch			60	Â	Â
20	Breaks			30	Â	Â
21	Total Time			540	Â	Â
22	Day 7			In Minutes	Â	Â
23	RECAP/REVIEW ACTIVITY (Roleplay) - Use of the Present Simple and Present Progressive Tenses			60	Â	Â
24	Â	Present		Â	Â	Â
25	Â	Â	Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions) Complete the Sentence Activity (If I wereâ¦If you ask meâ¦)	20	Â	Â
26	Â	Â	Systematization (Present module on theÂ 1st Conditional: Present Simple and Future Simple Format)	30	Â	Â
27	CALL 6: Marilou Salcedo (Let the class listen to the call at least twice)			10	Â	Â
28	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
29	Â	Â	Determine if there are conditionals used and misused in the call	20	Â	Â
30	Â	Â	Applying the Format:Â Change statements into the first conditional.	40	Â	Â
31	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
32	Â	Â	Roleplay:Â Ask the trainees to come up with their own conversation based on the scenario in the call. They should be able to use the first conditional where it is needed.	60	Â	Â
33	CALL 7: Margaret Gonsoden			15	Â	Â
34	Â	Present		Â	Â	Â
35	Â	Â	Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions) Ask the trainees to pick out 1st conditionals in the call.	15	Â	Â
36	Â	Â	Systematization (Present module on theÂ 2nd and 3rd conditionals)	30	Â	Â
37	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
38	Â	Â	Applying the Format: Change the 1st conditionals into either 2nd or 3rd conditionals	30	Â	Â
39	Â	Â	Revision Mission:Â Ask the trainees to improve the conversation by injecting conditionals into strategic places in the call.	30	Â	Â
40	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
41	Â	Â	Role PlaysÂ ( How Would You Do It Better? - Only change CSRs responses - roles will be played by trainees, switch it up after)	60	Â	Â
42	Â			Â	Â	Â
43	Â	Quiz (Present Tenses:Â CTWE The Tenses Handout, page 1 items 1-8)		30	Â	Â
44	Lunch			60	Â	Â
45	Breaks			30	Â	Â
46	Total Time			540	Â	Â
47	Day 8			In Minutes	Â	Â
48	RECAP/REVIEW ACTIVITY: Using Conditionals in a Role Play			60	Â	Â
49	CALL 8: Rosa Batangan			Â	Â	Â
50	Â	Present		Â	Â	Â
51	Â	Â	Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions) Modals and Conditionals: Are there any uses of modals or conditionals? How do these help keep the communication lines clear?	Â	Â	Â
52	Â	Â	Systematization (Making Modals and Conditionals Work for Us)	Â	Â	Â
53	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
54	Â	Â	Identifying and Correcting Repetitive, Redundant and confusing statements. -Â Compare and Contrast	Â	Â	Â
55	Â	Â	Role Play with Corrections	Â	Â	Â
56	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
57	Â	Â	Role Plays ( How Would You Do It Better? - Only change CSRs responses - roles will be played by trainees, switch it up after)	Â	Â	Â
58	CALL 9: Winston Mendiola			Â	Â	Â
59	Â	Present		Â	Â	Â
60	Â	Â	Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions) Modals and Conditionals: Are there any uses of modals or conditionals? How do these help keep the communication lines clear?	Â	Â	Â
61	Â	Â	Systematization (Making Modals and Conditionals Work for Us)	Â	Â	Â
62	Â	Practice		Â	Â	Â
63	Â	Â	Identifying and Correcting Repetitive, Redundant and confusing statements. -Â Compare and Contrast	Â	Â	Â
64	Â	Â	Role Play with Corrections	Â	Â	Â
65	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
66	Â	Â	Role Plays ( How Would You Do It Better? - Only change CSRs responses - roles will be played by trainees, switch it up after)	Â	Â	Â
67	Lunch			Â	Â	Â
68	Breaks			Â	Â	Â
69	Total Time			0	Â	Â
70	Day 9			In Minutes	Â	Â
71	RECAP/REVIEW ACTIVITY			Â	Â	Â
72	Â	Roleplay (Not Graded, Just give feedback) -Conditionals		Â	Â	Â
73	American Culture			Â	Â	Â
74	Â	Present		Â	Â	Â
75	Â	Â	Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions)Â Â Elicitation Questions: Do you watch American sitcoms and movies? What have you observed about their lifestyle? What makes them tick? What values are important to them?	Â	Â	Â
76	Â	Â	SystematizationÂ (Show clips from sitcoms and/or movies that focus on: value of time; idea of customer service; being frank and direct to the point)	Â	Â	Â
77	Â	Practice (Plethora of Calls)		Â	Â	Â
78	Â	Â	Culture ClassÂ - Divide the class into groups: give each group a call that's been discussed in the course of the training program (Calls 1 -9). Ask them to pick out scenarios or dialogue that reflects a value that is concretely American.	Â	Â	Â
79	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
80	Â	Â	Role Play:Â Ask the trainees to come up with their own conversation scenarios based on the aspect of culture they picked out from the calls given to them.	Â	Â	Â
81	Present: Lead In (creating interest, eliciting answers, concept questions)Â Background on DISH Network Services			Â	Â	Â
82	Â	Presentation of Modules in Connection to the services offered: Customer Service		Â	Â	Â
83	Â	Â	Geography and Time Zones	Â	Â	Â
84	Â	Â	Sports	Â	Â	Â
85	Â	Â	Money	Â	Â	Â
86	Â	Â	Seasons and Holidays	Â	Â	Â
87	Â	Practice (Plethora of Calls)		Â	Â	Â
88	Â	Â	It's All in the Details- Divide the class into groups: give each group a call that's been discussed in the course of the training program (Calls 1 -9). Ask them to pick out scenarios or dialogue that reflects any of the modules tackled in the Present stage.	Â	Â	Â
89	Â	Production		Â	Â	Â
90	Â	Â	Role Play:Â Ask the trainees to come up with their own conversation scenarios based on the aspect of culture they picked out from the calls given to them.	Â	Â	Â
91	Lunch			Â	Â	Â
92	Breaks			Â	Â	Â
93	Total Time			0	Â	Â
94	Day 10			In Minutes	Â	Â
95	RECAP/REVIEW ACTIVITY			Â	Â	Â
96	Â	Roleplay (Tenses, Conditionals, Active and Passive Verbs )		40	Â	Â
97	REVIEW for Written Exam	Â	Â	40	Â	Â
98	Â	WRITTEN EXAM: Application and Analysis	Â	90	Â	Â
99	REVIEW for Final Role Play	Â	Â	40	Â	Â
100	Â	ORAL EXAM: One on One Role Play with Trainer	Â	240	Â	Â
101	Lunch			60	Â	Â
102	Breaks			30	Â	Â
103	Total Time	Â	Â	540	Â	Â

I transcribed the call and below is my lesson plan which I patterned from their format above.

AGENTÂ : Thank fuh calling Circuit City, muh name is Zach. Meh please have phone number beginning with the area code?

CUSTOMERÂ : Hi Zach, this is Sheik Sylvan and I just need to ask a few questions.

AGENTÂ Â : Go ahead.

CUSTOMERÂ : Okay, I am having your catalog in front of me and the last page is computer. Itâs HP Turion laptop with a Core 2 Duo Centrino. It comes with a window vista and it plays one the fent charges with the Window XP. Can you do that or it has to be Window vista?

AGENTÂ : Aahmm well if waahh that is only aahh the inclusion of aahh the order we cannot do anything about it.

CUSTOMERÂ : Oh, you cannot do anything. Shall I call some of the number if there are anything?

AGENTÂ Â : Aahh you chood try contacting the manufacturer of the laptop.

CUSTOMERÂ : Do you have the number?

AGENTÂ Â : Aahh what is the ahh ahh item?

CUSTOMERÂ : Okay, the web ID is DV6833us.

AGENTÂ Â : What is the brand of the laptop?

CUSTOMERÂ : Okay, thatâs aahh HP Turion laptop.

AGENTÂ Â : Itâs HP pavilion.

CUSTOMERÂ : Yes, the pavilion laptop with the Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo.

AGENTÂ Â : Okay, contact Hewlett Packard 800â¦

CUSTOMERÂ : Okay 800â¦

AGENTÂ Â : 752â¦

CUSTOMERÂ : 752â¦

AGENTÂ Â : 0900â¦

CUSTOMERÂ : Say it again, 29?

AGENTÂ Â : 7920900â¦

CUSTOMERÂ : Iâm sorry, can you repeat it again?

AGENTÂ Â : 09-00, the last four number.

CUSTOMERÂ : 0900. Okay, so itâs 8007520900, all right?

AGENTÂ Â : That is correct.

CUSTOMERÂ : Thank you, Sir.

AGENTÂ Â : Thank you for calling Cir City. Have a great day.Â

Let me know if you want me to email you the selected call in .wmv format.

Title: Name That ToneÂ Â Â Â By: Francis Paolo Meria

Activity: Reading sentences using different emotionsÂ Audio file: John Paul Cruz (bad call CCCS)Â

Concept to be taught: Tone, Overtones and UndertonesÂ

Learning Outcomes / Instructional Goal

To realize the importance of tone
To be able to identify and correct undertones
To build rapport by using the using the right tone of voice

Purpose: This activity helps the trainees to become more confident in their ability to recognize tones different forms. It also helps motivate everyone in the room to participate in the learning.Â Â

Assessment - At the end of the lesson, assess whether the objective was achieved or not with an activity. Show sentences and statements and ask the agents individually to say the sentence using the correct tone of voice or the trainer could say a sentence with different emotions and ask each trainee to identify the mood of the speaker. In this way, the concept will be clear.Â

Present

Lead In Â : creating interests, eliciting answers, concept questions (How does tone of voice affect communication? How do you thank someone? How do you say âIâm sorryâ?) â 5 minutesÂ

Methodology/ProcedureÂ : ask the trainees to listen to the call and pick out confusing statements, utterances they feel are out of place, uncalled for, etc. Go through their original list and if they feel that they need to add more statements that are possible causes for communication breakdown, then let them do so. âÂ 10 minutesÂ

Systematization â Soft skills (overtones, tone and undertones) â 10 minutesÂ

Practice

Identify the undertones in the call â 5 minutesÂ

Filtering â let the class listen to the call again, this time, give them the transcript as well â 15 minutesÂ

Revision Mission â ask the trainees to improve the conversation by applying the appropriate tone of voice in each statement â 30 minutesÂ

Production

Role-plays â how would you do it better? (roles will be played by trainees, switch it up after) â 45 minutesÂ

Re: tenses

Tam Sadek — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:11:40 GMT

Hi Tanit,

No I wouldn't say that for me personally that mixed conditionals are never acceptable in writing - however, written and spoken English do display different characteristics.

I think that many native speakers feel that when they commit something to paper or the computer screen, then all of their English classes that they had often ignored as a youth come back to haunt them and they suddenly realise that things don't either make sense or 'sound good' when they look at them; due to them changing their ideas midstream as J Lewis mentioned.

Therefore they often go back to the drawing board and start editing and changing what they have written.

This is why writing and speech are very different as writing allows us to edit what we want to say, look for synonyms, etc whereas in speech we can't do this 'after the fact', but only in advance before when have spoken - which is much more difficult.

Don't forget that the main difference with writing is that the communicator is usually not present when it is being read, therefore everything must be clarified using grammar in advance; whereas during a conversation, as the communicator is present, he or she can clarify as they go along, when asked for clarification, or when the other person they are speaking to looks confused.

This is why spoken English is much less grammatically complex (i.e. using fewer tenses), but shows a higher frequency of lexical chunks or blocks of language, and is full of things that if transcribed would be classed as 'errors' when compared to the 'rules' of written grammar.

Remember that spoken English isn't just written English 'said out loud', but operates under different 'rules', many of which we are now only just beginning to understand, as until recently we have never had the means to record the sheer volume of natural speech and to start analysing it...

A step in the right direction to understanding these differences is the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English', published a few years ago, which is the beginning of the (long) process of mapping the differences between these two distinct forms.

Hope that helps...

Re: To Pedanticus

sextus — Sat, 27 Nov 2004 19:39:46 GMT

Hi MrP, howâs it going?

1) I finally thought of this possibility, which I reckon eliminates the problems:
âThus, it seems that we must not put the emphasis on the fact that a shadow always and necessarily follows a body when the body blocks light, but just on the fact that in these circumstances there has been a close connection between them. Sextusâ intention is then to emphasize that at least up till now the Skepticâs epoche has been closely followed by the state of ataraxia.â

2) âFor if Sextus thought that ataraxia [is][> was] by nature good and that epoche necessarily [entails][> entailed] it, he would certainly assert that epoche too [is][> was] something good in itself, since it would be precisely that state of mind which [brings][> brought] about ataraxia.â The point is that here Iâm using the second conditional and, as Iâm using the present everywhere when referring to Sextusâ point of view, I reckon I can keep the present. Is it clear what I mean?

3) âA common way of accounting for the texts in which Sextus seems to be espousing negative dogmatic views consists in applying to them some of the clarifications he sometimes makes.â
Could you think of a synonym for âclarificationâ? Maybe âelucidationâ?

Maybe youâre right about Borges. I donât know if you know that he was bilingual. I think one of his grandmothers was British. So he learned the language when he was a kid. He also knew a lot of English literature. Well, he knew about almost any kind of literature. But I believe itâs also possible to detect a strong influence of Spanish literature, not only in the subjects he treated, but also in the way of writing. By the way, thereâs a tale in Ficciones entitled âEl finâ, which you can only understand completely if you know âEl MartÃn Fierroâ by JosÃ© HernÃ¡ndez, an Argentinian writer from the 18th century. Itâs precisely a book about the âgauchosâ. The book is just excellent: itâs written in verse and itâs precisely the story of a âgauchoâ, but the vocabulary is quite difficult, even for us. Well, that tale intends to be the âendâ of the book. Maybe you already knew all that.

Cheers,

Sextus

Search results for 'tag:Synonyms tag:Conditionals' matching tags 'Synonyms' and 'Conditionals'

Re: Teaching Workplace English - PPP (present-practice-production) & TBL (Task-Based Learning)

Re: tenses

Re: To Pedanticus