John Curran wrote:
>
> Hi again all,
>
>   Being a TEFL or, more politically correct a TESOL teacher in Japan 
> the following will probably not find an audience. However here goes:
>
John,

I am a TESOL teacher too, in Saudi Arabia, and I think that quite a few 
people here have some background in this field as well. Thanks for 
posting this. It' very interesting. (Grammar resistance is alive and 
well among TESOL teachers as well.)

Mark

>  
>
>   Anyone teaching along these lines?
>
> Several of my more diligent Japanese students have shown improvement 
> in their writing after several months of examining the verbs 
> (processes) in clauses. This practice of classifying verbs in clauses 
> (action, mental, relational, verbal and behavioural) seems to be very 
> successful. . The intellectual gymnastics and difficulty involved 
> appears to be very stimulating and - quite enjoyable. It focuses their 
> attention, of course, on the essential meaning of the clause. 
> Identifying these verbs (processes) is difficult but- actually having 
> to think about what the process means in a clause is so helpful.  They 
> had been plodding along for years before this, following various 
> textbooks and also doing writing exercises - submitting diaries, 
> recounts of their travels abroad, meetings with friends etc. This 
> exercise is sharpening up their writing.
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  Also in association with the above I would like to more fully exploit 
> SFL notation in class:  double brackets for embedded clauses, single 
> brackets for prepositional phrases, double slash for clause breaks 
> etc.? This appears a great method of illustrating function and 
> structure. Has much been done on this aspect of teaching SFL at such 
> lowly levels? (I am a great fan of Kellogg and Reed diagrams and I 
> think such diagrams are very useful).
>
>  
>
> John
>
>  
>
>  
>
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