sábado, 21 de febrero de 2015

Pragmatics: a useful life skill

In the last few months, Macmillan English has been publishing a number of resources for teachers of English under the general term ‘MacMillan Life Skills’. Here’s the way the publishers describe the series:

“Life skills (sometimes also referred to as 21st century skills) provide students with the ‘soft skills’ that, along with their educational qualifications, help them stand out as the preferred candidate for educational and employment opportunities. (…) Each month you’ll find great information; including lesson ideas, an infographic or poster and motivational quotes to bring life skills into your lessons."

However, part of the material Macmillan English publishes is also suitable for students, especially those in the intermediate-to-advanced level. I would like to draw your attention to one of the components of the MacMillan Life Skills: pragmatics.

“Learning about pragmatics and how to express yourself successfully is a useful life skill, said Michael Rundell in January [2014] when he introduced the new pragmatics series on Macmillan Dictionary. The series is part of the Macmillan Life Skills campaign, offering free resources for English language students and teachers each month.”

A number of tips have been published so far about pragmatics in English, which are relevant to students of English:
ways of persuading someone to do something
ways of giving advice
ways of using understatement
ways of saying goodbye
ways of saying hello
ways of expressing you are unsure about something
ways of saying you are sure about something
ways of expressing your personal opinion in writing
ways of giving your opinion
ways of expressing agreement or disagreement
ways of thanking someone
ways of apologizing
ways of offering something to someone
ways of suggesting something
ways of expressing uncertainty
ways of saying 'I don't know'

In these posts students will find formulas to confidently express the above-mentioned ideas, sound more-English like and improve their English.