Azzeddine Bencherab is a former faculty member at the City University College of Ajman, UAE. He has been teaching English for more than 30 years. He has considerable experience in ELT instruction at the High School and College levels with more than 60 conferences and several articles published in international magazines. Presently, he is up to five books published by the European Union. His interests include teacher development and developing skills.

 

Cigdem Cetiner has been teaching English for 15 years. She has been trained in the field of “writing quality test items” by ETS, USA and later moved to Abu Dhabi where she worked in an International High School in the American section. She has attended several workshops on implementing Common Core Standards them in the curriculum. Presently, she is a coordinator at the Turkish Sign Language Club in FMV Erenkoy Isik Schools.   

 

Abstract

In this paper, we will highlight how proverbs could be implemented in an ELT class not only as a break from the textbook routine but also as a vector to the development of language learners’ communicative competence. Although proverbs have proven to be a genius tool to cover several language points, they are neglected in foreign language teaching on the part of instructors and textbook designers. Indeed, proverbs play an important role in getting the communicative competence of the target language and the cultural knowledge as well. The paper will not focus on the literature of proverbs but on how proverbs could be used to cover different aspects of the language. Each strategy comprises five elements: Aim, skill, level, material, procedure.

 

Introduction

In the last two decades, the inclusion of culture in language teaching has been a topical issue amongst syllabus designers, educators and publishers. It has been asserted that any foreign language cannot be successful if the cultural aspect is neglected.

One way to make learners aware of the target language culture is to use authentic materials which by no means are not limited to newspapers, videos, magazines, manuals and what have you but could be extended to proverbs.

Proverbs are not only authentic and proper to the target language but also accessible to all teachers requiring no sophisticated equipment. Proverbs have the advantage of being short, rich in language and can be used in a multitude of ways. In addition to being authentic, they give primacy to meaning and communication since there is always a teaching and discussion behind each proverb. They can provide a teaching that the instructor can use as a warm up activity to introduce now vocabulary items, new grammatical structure, a theme, to engage learners in a classroom discussion or as project work.

With extensive and proper use of proverbs in class, learners will acquire the ability to improve their oral skill, understand written language from a wide variety of sources. In sum, proverbs can be considered as a tremendous universal pedagogical tool to establish a cross- cultural dialogue for peace and peace as advocated in UNESCO’s Universal Declaration of Cultural Diversity, 2001.

 

Definitions

The word proverb originates from the Latin word proverbium which is a combination of the prefix “pro” meaning forth and the root verbium meaning word. Proverbs are part of the oral tradition of a culture carrying advice and wisdom. Proverbs have guided people of all ages from generation to generation in their social interaction throughout the ages. The advantage of proverbs, when used during social interaction is that they are concise, easy to remember and useful in every situation in life due to their content of everyday experiences (Mieder, 2004). Below are some definitions of the word proverb:

Harnish (1993) defines proverb as: “a brief familiar maxim of folk wisdom, usually compressed in form, involving a bold image and frequently a jingle that catches the memory.”

Nuessel (2003) defines proverb as: “a short, pithy saying in frequent and widespread use expressing a well-known truth or fact.

Mieder, (1993) defines the term proverbs as a short, generally known sentence of folk which contains wisdom, truth, moral and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorized form passed from generation to generation.

 

How to use proverbs

Before a teacher decides to use proverbs in class, s/he has to consider its aim. Proverbs can be used at any stage of the lesson. They can be used as a warm up activity, as a time filler, at the end of a lesson to reinforce or teach lexical items, grammatical structures, pronunciation, or as spring board a discussion. Below are few tips to consider prior to using proverbs:

• Use proverbs that fit the context dealt with in the lesson
• Group  a number of proverbs that highlight the same topic so that learners will remember some of them.
• Support proverbs with visuals or pictures to help learners remember them.
• Avoid using too many at a time.

Below, we will share some strategies implemented in our respective classes at Emirates Private School, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

 

Strategy 1: Identify and write

Aim: Teach phonics/part of speech                                                                                                                                   Skill: Reading and guided writing                                                                                                          Level: Low grades                                                                                                                                Material: A list of proverbs written as one word                                                                                 Procedure: Learners split the word to obtain one statement.                                                                 Example: Speechissilverbutsilenceisgolden                                                                                                    Key: Speech is silver but silence is golden.

 

Strategy 2: Matching proverbs with their meanings

Aim: Improve reading                                                                                                                                                                  Skill:  Reading                                                                                                                                                                            Level: Low/medium grades                                                                                                                                                Material: Provide learners with a two-column list of proverbs.                                                                   Procedure: Learners team up to match proverbs in column A with their meaning in column B. Examples:                                                                                                                                    

Proverbs                                                                                                                                                  

A. Honesty is the best policy.                                                                                                       B. Every cloud has a silver lining.                                                                                                  

Meaning                                                                                                                                                 

1. No matter how difficult it might be to say the truth, to be honest is the best decision in any situation.  

2. There is a positive side for every bad situation, so you need to be positive.

 

Strategy 3: Phonetic proverbs

Aim: Generally, textbooks do not devise guidance on how to use the phonetic symbols to pronounce a word. This strategy will help learners become familiar with the use of IPA, or their textbook pronunciation guides.                                                                                                       Skill:  Speaking/Reading                                                                                                                        Level: High grades                                                                                                                            Material: Blackboard, chalk, IPA reference sheet                                                                                 Procedure: Download an IPA pronunciation guide or use the pronunciation guide from the students’ textbook if available. Then, select proverbs based on the sound you wish to teach or review for that particular class. Once done, transcribe the selected proverb into IPA on paper or on the board and have students figure out each word by saying it aloud. After checking that each word has been pronounced correctly, have students write each word in the proverb in their notebooks using both the alphabet and IPA. The IPA chart can be downloaded at: https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/sites/default/files/IPA_Kiel_2015.pdf

Examples:  

• /ðeəz/  /nəʊ/  /pleɪs/  /laɪk/  /həʊm/ 
• /dʊ/ /nɒt/   /krɒs/  /ðə/  /brɪdʒ/  /ənˈtɪl/ /juː/  /kʌm/ /tʊ/  /ɪt/                                     
• /dɪˈskreʃ(ə)n/  /ɪz/  /ðə/  /best/  /pɑː(r)t/ /ɒv/  /vælə(r)/                                                         

Keys:

• There’s no place like home.   
• Do not cross the bridge until you come to it.                                                                          
• Discretion is the better part of valor.                                                                                                   

 

Strategy 4: Sound proverbs

Aim: Review English sounds                                                                                                                  Skill: Speaking/Reading                                                                                                                        Level: High grades                                                                                                                          Material: Blackboard, chalk, IPA reference sheet                                                                                Procedure: Practicing pronunciation can be very tedious. Proverbs have the advantage of making teaching pronunciation a game like activity. Sentences with several words involving the same sound are good materials for practicing that sound. Many proverbs contain the rhetorical devices related to sound such as alliteration, rhyme and repetition, which make them suitable for pronunciation exercises. Repeating a sound two or more times in a short sentence can give the student a deeper impression, and can keep the boredom away. The following list of proverbs contain the target sounds to be reviewed. The purpose of the activity is to make learners identify the sound.

Example:

Proverbs	Sound
When you educate a man, you educate an individual. When you educate a woman, you educate a generation	/w/
A spider’s cobweb isn’t only its sleeping spring but also its food trap.	/s/
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.	/g/
Not everyone who chased the zebra caught it, but he who caught it, chased it.	/k/; / tʃ/
The water pot presses upon the small circular pad. Practice makes perfect.	/p/

Strategy 5: Arguable proverbs

Aim: Teach learners how to defend an opinion/argument                                                                                          Skill:  Listening/speaking/reading/writing                                                                                              Level: High grades                                                                                                                           Material: A collection of proverbs containing arguable points                                                                Procedure: This strategy helps learners develop their argumentative skills. Learners are asked to express their agreement or disagreement with the meaning of the selected proverb (s) providing convincing arguments.

Example: Turn the other cheek. 

This saying urges people to forgive. Literally, it means you should turn your other cheek if someone slaps you on the first.  Some people might not agree. The, learners can be engaged in defending their opinion.

Strategy 6: Story writing

Aim: Involve kinaesthetic learners/ reach reluctant learners                                                                                     Skill: Writing                                                                                                                                                                                   Level: Low/intermediate grades                                                                                                                                         Material: None                                                                                                                                                                  Procedure: Provide learners with a proverb and have them write a story based on it.                        

Example: Flatterers are the worst kind of traitors.

Strategy 7: Syntactic proverbs

Aim: Teach/review/reinforce grammatical points, make learners write                                                                       Skill:  Writing                                                                                                                                                                               Level: Beginners/Intermediate                                                                                                                                              Material: A list of proverbs that bear the grammatical points to be dealt with                                                          Procedure: Teacher can use proverbs as a warm up tool to teach a grammatical structure or as a game like activity to reinforce what has been taught.

Examples:

Proverbs	Language Points/exponents
Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.	Cautioning: Do not
When the elephants fight, it is the grass that gets hurt.	Futurity after when
The pen is mightier than the sword.	Comparison: adj + er

 

References:

Harnish, R. M. (1993). Communicating with proverbs. Communication and Cognition, 26(3/4), 265-290.

Mieder W 1993. Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Mieder W 2004. Proverbs: A handbook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.                                    

Nuessel, F. (2003). Proverbs and metaphoric language in second-language acquisition. In W. Mieder (Ed.), Cognition, comprehension and communication. A decade of North American proverb studies (pp. 395-412). Hohengehren: Schneider-Verlag.

 

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