All of this courseware is in constant development. Its production is a one dyslectic man show. Therefore
they are likely to have errors or other need for improvement. Please take this into consideration.
Any help or suggestion is very welcome.
Reasons for producing my own coursware
The most important reasons I started to work on my own teaching resources are:
Wanting to have separate modules for the different aspects of the languages, which is important for my clientele and for the way I teach,
Insatisfaction with what is available on the market, printed as well as online.
Why separate modules
Adapting my language classes to the needs and wishes of each of my pupils is of utmost importance to me. Therefore I prefer to work with modulated courseware. What I teach my pupils depends on the difficulties they have, what they are interested in and what they need for the purpose for which they are having language class. It also means that I avoid those parts which aren't a problem or which they neither want nor need.
Separate modules for the different elements of the language
is extremely helpful for this kind of teaching.
Insatisfaction with available courseware
These are some of the major problems with available language courseware.
Coursebooks
It is very difficult to find affordable language coursebooks . It is very difficult, nearly impossible to find a really good language coursebook, even among the expensive ones.
Coursebooks are updated frequently, to make learners buy the newest edition.
Working as a teacher at language schools, I got the impression that, most of the time, from one edition to another, very little was changed, a few lines a few pictures. Somebody form de business told me that it is worse that. It is not rare that the only thing changed from one edition to the other is nothing more than the cover.
Apparently, the highest priority by far, for most language courseware publishers is earning money. Helping people to learn seems to be pretty low on their priority list. For them, to make it easier to sell their textbooks, first of all, those books need to be beautiful. Not just appealing but really very beautiful, if you like that kind of beautiful. All other aspects of the books seem to get less attention than they need.
Internet
On the internet there is the problem of weblittering, garbage spread around the internet. In this case, there is so much pulp, so much material from very low to trash quality that this by itself makes it difficult to find any decent material.
Below part of the courseware I pruduced which I considre fit fo sharing.
It can be downloaded for free.
About updates of these handouts
These handouts are continuously corrected. Using them during my classes I keep coming across errors and ideas for improvements. Because providing good material for my pupils is my priority, pfd versions of the handouts tend to be updated more frequently than the html versions.
Alphabet and Pronunciation
Handouts with the alphabet and some explanations about important sounds typical for the Dutch or English language.
In both handouts,
pronunciation is explained using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
They contain links to sites where one can hear the sounds which go with the symbols of the IPA. One of these sites even shows the movements of the mouth when making the sounds.
ABC, Uitspraak
A handout with the Dutch alphabet (ABC), and explanations about pronunciation of Dutch language sounds, using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
A handout with the English Alphabet (ABC), and explanations about some of the English sounds which are difficult to pronounce for most learners of English or especially for Brazilians. With use of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
Social and Functional Expressions / Belangrijke Sociale en Functionele Uitdrukkingen
These handouts provide expressions useful for basic social interaction, including tasks like asking information and requesting things. They are similar to Classroom English and Les Taal but more advanced.
Handouts about numbers in English and Dutch (Nederlands) with explanations about peculiarities regarding use and pronunciation with use of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
Handouts with list of the most important colours in English and Dutch. They give the names as well as hexadecimal (#hex) and decimal (rgb) colour codes.
Drawing to help to learn the correct use of parts of the day especially evening and night. A problem for speakers of Portuguese because, in Portuguese, normally, the word noite is used for evening as well as for night.
Tekeningen om te helpen de woorden avond en nacht correct te gebruiken. Voor sprekers van Portugees is dit moeilijk omdat in het Portugees normaal voor avond en nacht het zelfde woord gebruikt wordt, namelijk, noite.
Short Responses to Negative Questions and Statements
Many of my Brazilian pupils mix up Yes and No when responding to negative questions or statements. The result is, of course, that the listener understands the opposite of what the speaker wants to say. The handout Short Responses to Negative Questions and Statements is to explain the problem and help avoiding it.
Some verbs related to perception and communication can be confusing for learners of the English language.
The following handout explains how to use the most important ones
speak, talk, say, tell, see, watch, look, hear and listen
correctly.
In its function as an amplifier or intensifier, the adverb so is very different from adverbs like very or really. Words like really or very themselves, directly, indicate how much the following adjective or adverb is amplified. The adverb so indicates this indirectly. It connects to other information, verbal or non-verbal, which indicates how much the following adjective is amplified. This handout explains how it works.
Correct use of the words for and to, in the context of direction on one hand and benefit or purpose on the other, can be difficult for Brazilian learners of English. This handout is to explain the problem and to help learners to use for and to correctly.
The correct use of the verbs come and go causes problems for speakers of Portuguese.
Although the translation of the verbs come and go seems simple and straight forward, when translating from or to Portuguese there is a problem. Depending on the context, the normal translation: vir to come and ir to go is incorrect and needs to be inverted translating vir to go and ir to come.
The same context dependent inversion happens with bring and take.
The same principle, the context dependent inversion, applies to he Dutch words komen, gaan, brengen and menemen as explained
in this handout (in Dutch).
Many Brazilians struggle with the question of when to use to do or to make. As a mater of fact the problem is much reduced when they find out that, in most cases, instead of using to do or to make, speakers of English use specific action verbs.
This handout explains when to use action verbs, when to do and when to make.
The difference between to do something and to have something done is also problematic for Brazilian learners of English. In Portuguese, this difference is normally not expressed. In English it is almost impossible to not express this difference.
This handout is to help overcoming these problems with more detailed explanations and examples.
A good way for learners to practice solving problems using the language they are learning is with the use of Roleplay-Simulations. The link below takes you to a page with a collection of Roleplay-Simulations for English and Dutch language learning classes. It also has some explanations about them like what gave me the idea, why I make and use them, what are the benefits.
An analytic approach to articles. About the two types, definite indefinite, their forms, when to use which type and form and why. Also included are peculiarities about articles like their use with names, uncountables and more.
First, Second, Third Grammatical Person / Eerste, Tweede, Derde Persoon
For correct conjugation of verbs, recognising first, second and third person is very important.
Many people have difficulty with this though.
Most go through the trouble of substituting the subject by a personal pronoun to find out which grammatical person it is. The whole problem can be reduced to two simple questions as explained in these handouts.
Especially when teaching learners who have a certain knowledge of the English language but need to improve their performance, one comes across learners who know how to form the verb tenses but have difficulty to use them at right moments but also those who do know when to use which verb tense but have difficulty to form the tenses correctly.
That's why,
one handout explains
when to use verb tenses and
another one explains
how to form them.
Conjugation of Verbs, Schematic
The handout Conjugation of Verbs, Schematic, explains how to form the English verb tenses.
The handout Analytic Approach to Verb Tenses explains when and why to use the different verb tenses.
English verb grammar is a bit like a set of building blocks. The verb tenses consist of
different elements that you can put together to form these tenses. In this text, instead of
just listing verb tenses and the rules of when to use them, first, the basic elements that
make up the tenses will be discussed, and then, how these explain the complete verb tenses
and their use.
Irregular Verbs with IPA / Onregelmatige Werkwoorden
Lists of irregular verbs of English and Dutch. In the English version, in cases where vowel changes are different from what the spelling indicates, this is shown using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
Super Irregular Verbs / Super Onregelmatige Werkwoorden
Auxiliary verbs are irregular, even in present. Much used verbs tend to be irregular. Auxiliary verbs are among the most used and most irregular verbs. While other irregular verbs only escape from the regular pattern when changing from present to past or past participle, auxiliary verbs are irregular even within present or past. That is why they can be called super irregular verbs.
