Table Of ContentBecoming an Outstanding Languages Teacher
Becoming an Outstanding Languages Teacher explores the skills that it takes to
deliver exceptional language teaching and produce outstanding results. Written by
a highly experienced teacher and teacher educator, this book provides a wide range
of approaches to teaching, along with an abundance of practical classroom ideas.
This new edition keeps the focus on the nuts and bolts of planning lessons –
which will keep students engaged and stimulated when learning a language –
and features a new chapter on intercultural understanding, as well as updated
information on the latest digital technology tools. Reference is made to tried
and tested methodologies and classroom procedures, along with exciting new
approaches which teachers have found productive. The book covers:
B how to run a room;
B dissecting lessons: written texts, aural texts and visuals;
B teacher-student interactions, communicative tasks and sentence-building;
B developing phonological and phonics skill;
B purposeful games;
B teaching with words and chunks;
B teaching students with varying aptitude for language learning;
B using digital technology to support learning;
B what it means to “teach grammar”;
B intercultural understanding;
B building a repertoire to lighten your workload.
Packed full of strategies which are easy to implement, this book is essential reading
for both pre-service teachers and experienced practitioners.
Steve Smith taught languages for over 30 years and is former Head of Modern
Languages at Ripon Grammar School, UK. He is now an author, consultant, blogger
and occasional YouTuber. He works with trainee and qualifed teachers in schools
and online and has presented at conferences in England, Ireland and Scotland. His
resources site frenchteacher.net is used around the world. He has written for the
AQA examination board in England and been a visiting lecturer at the University
of Buckingham for several years.
Becoming an Outstanding Teacher
Series Editor: Jayne Bartlett
Becoming an Outstanding Mathematics Teacher
Jayne Bartlett
Becoming an Outstanding English Teacher
Kate Sida-Nicholls
Becoming an Outstanding Geography Teacher
Mark Harris
Becoming an Outstanding History Teacher
Sally Thorne
Becoming an Outstanding Languages Teacher, 2nd Edition
Steve Smith
For a full list of titles see: https://www.routledge.com/Becoming-an-Outstanding-
Teacher/book-series/BARTLETT
Becoming an
Outstanding Languages
Teacher
Second Edition
Steve Smith
Second edition published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Steve Smith
The right of Steve Smith to be identifed as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2018
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Smith, Steve (S. P.), author.
Title: Becoming an outstanding languages teacher / Steve Smith.
Description: 2. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifers: LCCN 2022003985 | ISBN 9781032222103 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781032222097 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003271581 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Language and languages—Study and teaching. |
Language transfer (Language learning)—Study and teaching. |
Language teachers—Training of.
Classifcation: LCC P51 .S538 2023 | DDC 418.0071/2—dc23/eng/20220302
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022003985
ISBN: 978-1-032-22210-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-22209-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-27158-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003271581
Typeset in Melior
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of boxes ix
List of tables xi
List of fgures xiii
Introduction 1
1 Running a room 3
2 Dissecting lessons: pictures 19
3 Dissecting lessons: exploiting written texts 29
4 Dissecting lessons: task-based lessons 44
5 Enjoying sounds 59
6 Purposeful games 73
7 Getting grammatical 88
8 Words and chunks 105
9 Dissecting lessons: speaking 118
10 Focus on writing 129
11 Getting the best from all students 141
12 Teaching in the target language 154
v
Contents
13 Moving them forwards 165
14 Intercultural understanding 178
15 Building your outstanding repertoire 190
Conclusion 204
Bibliography and further reading 205
Index 207
vi
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to a number of teachers and language teacher educators who have
provided inspiration and ideas for this book, notably Gianfranco Conti, Joe Dale,
Martina Bex, Liam Printer, Esmeralda Salgado and Barry Smith. Most of the
content is based on my own experience and that gained observing many skilled
colleagues over the years, especially the teams at Ripon Grammar School.
vii
Boxes
1.1 Register routines 4
1.2 Starters for beginners 7
1.3 Starters for intermediates 10
1.4 Starters for advanced level 12
1.5 Tech tips for Chapter 1 14
2.1 Tech tips for Chapter 2 27
3.1 Some characters from Peppa Pig 30
3.2 Interview with Karen, an astronaut 33
3.3 Birgit’s story 38
3.4 Tech tips for Chapter 3 42
4.1 List of news stories 48
4.2 News story language 49
4.3 Tech tips for Chapter 4 57
5.1 “Detect my lies” 65
5.2 Tech tips for Chapter 5 71
6.1 Tech tips for Chapter 6 86
7.1 Practising past (preterite) tense 97
7.2 Tech tips for Chapter 7 102
8.1 Mes vacances récentes 110
8.2 Tech tips for Chapter 8 114
9.1 Cinderella 119
9.2 Tech tips for Chapter 9 126
10.1 Student guide to writing advanced-level essays 137
10.2 Tech tips for Chapter 10 139
11.1 Three phonics tasks 142
11.2 Tech tips for Chapter 11 151
ix
