Short & sweet: 12 ways to use short texts

Dear Reader,

Was this past week the best week that the Earth has ever experienced? Not by a long stretch. But was it an average week? Also not. It was likely one of the most worrying, disconcerting and [enter properly negative adjective] ones ever.

Which of course doesn't mean we give up; on the contrary, I believe that events like the ones we're living through make our role as teachers all the more important. We don't have all the answers and we can't really make historic catastrophes go away for our students, but we can be there for them and explain a thing or two.

*A peaceful photo of the Isle of Skye as a little pick-me-up in this messy world*

In our roles as English teachers, we might be in a particularly good spot to at least teach them a few key words about the current situation (e.g. as much as it pains me: strikes, allies, civilians) as they are likely to come across them on social media. How are you handling this delicate moment as a teacher? No right answers, I'm just eager to hear about other teachers' experiences.

So, what do I have in store for you today? Well, they say that in moments of uncertainty, people like to find comfort in safe things¹. One of my safest things is books.

Not to be a nerd on purpose, but this week I've been re-reading parts of some all-time English Language Teaching classics. While re-reading Alan Maley's book Short and Sweet, I came across a simple but very fruitful idea: 12 techniques to exploit short texts.

📢 But before that, an announcement: I managed to get at least some of my ducks in a row so I could organise a free webinar I'd been wanting to organise for a long time, and here it is!

If you're preparing for the oral exam of the English concorso or, why not, pre-preparing for the lesson planning exam of the percorsi abilitanti, come along to a free webinar with me on Monday, 16 March. We will comment some examples of lesson plans from kind colleagues who have sent them to me, I will answer your questions in a Q&A and I will give you tips for presenting at your exam (including if you're one of the lucky ones who are meant to present without any visual support).

It's free and recorded, but you do need to register at this page. Confirmation emails seem to go to Spam for whatever reason, so please check your Spam folder for your confirmation email!

Now that that's done, let's get ready for today's topic: 12 techniques to exploit short texts. Grab a cuppa and let's dive in (figuratively, because it wouldn't be very safe otherwise) 🤿

12 techniques to exploit short text

First off, what do I mean by "short text"? It could be a short quote, something you or your students found online, or better yet: something you or your students found in real life. I've talked before about linguistic landscaping as a pedagogical tool, in which we use the language we find in the world around us to learn. You can find out more about this in this British Council webinar.

Short texts are an excellent way to incorporate written texts in your lessons even in those cases in which your students don't seem to be able to concentrate on longer texts.

Take, for example, this car sticker I found a while ago:

Funny, sure, but how could we use it beyond its funny side?

Or take this quote from Leonard Cohen's Anthem, which I came across in a book:

How could we use it productively beyond its mere comprehension or appreciation of its beauty and underlying message? Here are 12 ways based on Alan Maley's book Short and Sweet:

1. Expansion

One first, perhaps slightly obvious, but still valuable thing we can do with short texts is expand on them: add adjectives, comments, extra steps. In the case of "I wanna live like an animal", I'd ask my students to add what kind of animal and why!

2. Reduction

In a similar but opposite vein, how about removing one key word to change the meaning or summarising even further? In the case of Cohen's quote, I'd ask my students to take out some of the text and explain their choices.

3. Media transfer

We can turn the text into a message conveyed via another medium: video, photos, gifs, graphs, music, etc. For example, the first one is an obvious choice for graphic work (which I would ask my students to explain orally).

4. Matching

With matching, we can find a title, a visual or another text that connects to the text. For example, we could give our students a series of quotes from Cohen's songs and ask them which one best matches with the one from Anthem, and why.

5. Selection

Choose the best purpose for the text. For example, who might say that they want to live like an animal, and why?

6. Comparison

Compare and contrast two texts: what rhetorical devices do they use? What visual/graphic features? Do they share a common theme?

7. Reconstruction

Break up the text, jumble up the pieces and have your students build them up into a sentence. It can be harder than we thought to reconstruct from live / animal / wanna / I / like!

8. Reformulation

Rewrite the text in a different mood or in a different genre: for example, could I wanna live like an animal be the start of a short story? Or the end of a short story?

9. Interpretation

What is the true, and perhaps unspoken, meaning of the text? What might be Leonard Cohen's backstory about the light getting in?

10. Creation

You can take the structure of the text (e.g. I wanna .. like a...) to create new texts, or extract 5 words from the text and use them to create a new text.

11. Analysis

What are some lexical or grammatical feature of the text and how are they used? For example, what is "wanna"? In what sort of register is it used? Is it more typical of spoken or written language? What other constructions are similar to "wanna"?

12. Project work

As the name suggests, we can use the text as the basis for project work. This can of course be a group project. For example, the quote from Cohen's song could be the springboard for a video about Cohen's life and work.

And with that, dear teacher, I am going to conclude today's newsletter! Do you have any other ways in which you use short texts?

As usual, I'm going to wish you a peaceful and cosy Sunday.

Take care, dear teacher ✨

¹ Do you have a safe thing that gives you comfort and allows you to stay in the present and not spin out mentally due to the current state of the world? For me, other than books, it's knitting, dancing and playing dress up with my child. It was World Book Day this week (a little speck of positivity in an otherwise disappointing week), which kids in the UK celebrate by dressing up as book characters and bringing books to school. My child dressing up as Doctor/Princess Pearl from Zog and the Flying Doctors was a true highlight for me (although it meant I had to dress up as dragon Zog, which I could have done without, but alas...)

P.S.: My weekly suggestion for things to listen to/watch/read to improve your English while relaxing: It's a long read, but a relatable one: Teacher v chatbot: my journey into the classroom in the age of AI. It's from the perspective of a writer who started his teacher training relatively recently so he's got a lot of thoughts. I'd love to hear your thoughts, too!

✨Cool things I heard this week

I don't think I would have gotten my 96 at the exam without your help and your trainers' help. I loved it and I'm crossing my fingers this is the time I actually get tenure!

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