‘Language is context-sensitive. This means that, in the absence of context, it is very difficult to recover the intended meaning of a single word or phrase.’ (Thornbury, S,1999) For example, the word toothache needs the context of dentist for the correct meaning to be understood. If I say to someone that we are expecting a heat wave this weekend without including the context of weather, heat wave will not be interpreted correctly. Fortunately we have a wealthy resource of course books available to contextualise the language we want to teach. In general English, we come across the staple topics of Shopping, Travel, Hobbies & Leisure, Food, Entertainment and Friendship. In business English, themes such as Staff development & training, Job descriptions, Job satisfaction, Launching a product and Starting a business are common. We can also use authentic texts such as newspapers, songs, literary texts and the Internet to name but a few.
At Carole Brown Idiomas we like to use the English newspaper Euro Weekly. This is a good teaching resource which recounts the weekly news of what’s happening in Mallorca in the world of politics, business and finance. Reading something that is personal to our students makes learning all the more memorable. Recently we read an article entitled Corruption in Spain exposed where the Germany based non governmental organisation Transparency International released its 25th annual Corruption Perception Index. Within the context of finance, students learnt the vocabulary of range, score, rating, joint second and the grammar of superlatives least corrupt and most corrupt
Our teachers also use Soap operas as another popular resource. Here students can get involved with the plot of the story and learn language simultaneously. We have recently been doing The Road less travelled (One stop English). Episode One introduces the learners to the different uses of just within the context of a phone call. Having heard just in context for example:
Who was that? Just my cousin Sal
the students can recall its use to mean only more easily.
These are real examples of how our learners at Carole Brown Idiomas can advance in their learning of English. Making the language relevant and personal within a context they can identify with is an effective method of learning. It also adds to the fun element of learning and keeps them more motivated.