In each issue of English Now, our resident Language Doctor is here to help you with your English language problems

In this issue we have a letter from a reader in Hai Phong about how difficult it is to use teaching resources and one from a reader in Phu Tho about writing.

Dear Language Doctor,

When I get writing assignments back from students I sometimes just feel there is something missing. Most of the language is correct, but it doesn’t seem complete. Can you give me some advice on this?

Tran Ngoc Suong
Soc Trang


I know what you mean. The students seem to produce language that is correct, but very safe. Also, they don’t seem to include key elements of a particular writing type.

The best thing to do is to flag this up and raise their awareness of what should be included. To do this we need to think about what we are writing. For example, if we are writing a story, the students will need to include the narrative tenses (including past perfect if they can). You would expect to see time expressions to help order the text, for example; then, after that, later that day, the next thing that happened, in the end etc. You might expect them to include adjectives and further adverbs to add colour to the story.

As another example, if they are writing instructions, we would expect to see imperative forms and simple sentences.

Lastly, you may want to simply give the students a list of grammar points to include in their writing because these are things they have recently studied and you want them to practice them.

To sum up, don’t overload your students, but giving them a checklist of things to include will help them to produce more sophisticated and complex writing.
Good luck.


Dao Trong Dao from Hai Phong wrote to us and told of his wish to include more games in his teaching. He tells us that he has got hold of copies of lots of books and also looked at the British Council website, but has found them very difficult to use. He asks for advice.

Thanks for your letter Dao, I think your concerns are the same as many teachers around the country.

Sometimes the material may be a little too European or aimed at smaller class sizes. However, you can adapt the activities quite easily and there are many good ideas out there. It you are doing pair work or group work activities it doesn’t really make much difference if you are teaching 16 or 60.

You really have to focus on some new activities and take a risk and try them out in class. This is the only way you will really learn how to use them.

Another excellent thing you can do is be proactive by starting ‘show and tell’ sessions in your English teachers’ staff meetings. Get all the teachers to make a commitment to each other to try out two new activities each month. Teachers can then share with each other the ideas and activities that have worked best. Teachers are very creative and I am sure that you could quickly build up a repertoire of interesting and effective activities to enliven your teaching.

So, good luck and keep experimenting and growing as a teacher.


Send your letters to: Language Doctor VTTN, British Council, 40 Cat Linh, Hanoi

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