Sunday, November 29, 2020

Exclusive Resort Staff Learn to Say No

From a pantheon of ESL and ESP resources and schools, Dictation Triptychs emerged as the instructional of choice for one of Southeast Asia's most luxurious and guarded holiday sea villas, with an utterly bespoke discourse featuring an escalating series of guest demands in terms of difficulty.









Buoyed by learner feedback, Dictation Triptychs will be back shortly with a series addressing F&B, Guest Experience, and other communicative challenges.

It's exciting to see how the pandemic lockdown does not have to spell downtime as far as language grooming is concerned! English"speaking guests will be back soon, and they'll be ready!








Sunday, September 27, 2020

Reopening as Kindle on Amazon as TEWs

PAPERBACK AVAILABLE NOW  from Amazon: Make unlimited photocopies from every purchase!



An international EFL flavor features in the latest incarnation of DTs as Total English Worksheets.

Check out an affordable Kindle version ready for download at:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08K7BPFHV/

Themes include Water Festival, TOEFL, and even the K-pop sensation Blackpink!


Monday, May 18, 2020

New Order Site, Pandemic Discounts!

New URL
https://sdg-publications.square.site/
Pandemics are no joke. Neither are these discounts!

For additional scholarships, please send me a note on the feedback form on right.

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Featured in Teacherpreneur ... A Year On

With fellow DT exponents at TESL Ontario 2016
"What happens when you marry the fullest engagement of skills with the funnest classroom activity? You have a dictation activity making everybody listen, speak, read, and write in turn with other people all the time. You learn real-world English idioms and tweak pronunciation of words and suprasegmentals. And then you produce PBLA-ready artefacts that go straight into your portfolio."

Read the rest at Patrice Palmer's wonderful website.

Monday, October 23, 2017

November TESL Month Sale and Tutela Webinar

The crazy annual Dictation Triptychs sale is back, but only eye-poppingly crazier this round!

And don't forget to attend the Tutela Webinar on November 29, 7 - 8 p.m.


So go ahead and walk around with your Movember moustaches, but don't forget to really go nuts with the November Dictation Triptychs sale and webinar!

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Candid Sharing: A Multilevel Literacy-through-CLB3 Class

On the theme of giving directions, today's class was the culmination of three days of focusing on public transportation, from learning the cardinal points to articulating how to use SMS to estimate bus arrival times.


So what worked and didn't?


In the mix were 3 to 4 who couldn't write basic words. Others, on the other extreme, just didn't want to get promoted. Totally asymmetric. So it was a bit brutal getting through stage 1 of the jigsaw activity. It was hard trying not to get all antsy about what next. But then they got to do dictation, and everything straightened out .... on its own!


We didn't get as far as artefact recording or e-portfololio updates, but one thing was clear. The Dictation Triptychs work! Especially for text savvy students, especially those highly literate in their L1 and all obsessed about filling in pesky blanks, the handout pulls them along, and the room explodes in furious learning.

Much fodder for tomorrow's lesson plan.

Monday, January 2, 2017

Yet Another Follow-Up Activity: GPS Location-Based Field Trips at T4T



At TESL Toronto's Technology for Teachers Miniconference on January 21, 2017, Hala and Joseph will be showing you how to switch on your smartphones to create PBLA artefacts determined by location, an activity that feeds off directly from and is optimized by the use of Dictation Triptychs in the classroom.

Don't miss Session C, 11:10 – 11:55 a.m., in Room 211, Trinity College, University of Toronto, 15 Devonshire Place. Complete details here.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Merry Christmas, and Goodbye '16 with the Promo Code




It's been an amazing inaugural year for the pedagogically exciting Dictation Triptychs with the publication of multiple ebooks, conducting of training sessions and TESL conference presentations, and launch of our online store.
But before that final Auld Lang Syne, be sure to lock in your boot camp dates for 2017 and sock away a few more ebooks at a 16% discount!
Just remember to apply the Promo Code.
Ho Ho Ho!

Friday, November 25, 2016

Join Us on Thursday, Nov. 24, 3:45 p.m., at TESL Ontario Conference 2016 at Sheraton Centre, Toronto

Be sure to check out our conference snapshots and tag a friend in our FB album!



TESL Ontario Conference
Check out the bios and details in the Conference Brochure! 

Discover the PBLA potential and pragmatic potential of Dictation Triptychs as expert teachers Suma and Hala demonstrate their magic in multilevel and Workplace English classrooms.

And be prepared for some surprising goodies specific to our Conference attendees!

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Dictation Triptychs CLB 5-8 TOC - New!

INTRODUCTION 4

CLB5L Follow directions to locate an office, school or tourist attraction on a map. (II. Comprehending Instructions: Understand simple to moderately complex directions and instructions for generally familiar and relevant procedures. [Instructions are about 7 to 8 steps, with up to 10 details (fewer on the phone).] Follows a range of basic cohesive devices indicating order and sequence. Seeks clarification and confirmation if required. Responds with actions to directions and instructions.) 9

CLB5L Listen to a short explanation from a bank teller about different accounts to determine the advantages and disadvantages of each. (IV. Comprehending Information: Understand descriptive or narrative monologues or presentations related to everyday, personally relevant topics or situations. [Presentations are informal, with the use of visuals and up to about 5 minutes in length.] Gets the gist. Identifies key words and phrases. Identifies factual details and some implied meanings. Identifies opinions. Interprets descriptions, reports and explanations.) 14

CLB5S Answer the phone at work. Provide information to the caller (such as company name, hours of operation, basic information about a product or service). (I. Interacting with Others: Participate in very short phone calls. [Communicating on the phone may be difficult.] Answers the phone, greets a caller, and closes a conversation using appropriate conventions and expressions. Provides simple personal information.) 19

CLB6L Listen and respond to a friend’s reason for cancelling a dinner date. (I. Interacting with Others: Understand common social exchanges (such as openings and closings, making and cancelling of appointments, apologies, regrets, excuses, and problems in reception and communication). Identifies specific factual details and implied meanings. Identifies formal and casual style and register. Identifies language functions. Identifies some feelings such as regret and compassion. Identifies expressions of openings, pre-closings, closings and leave-takings. Identifies situation and relationship between speakers. Identifies mood, attitude and emotional states from tone and intonation.) 24

CLB6L Take simple routine food orders on the phone or at a drive-through. (III. Getting Things Done: Understand moderately complex communication intended to influence or persuade (such as suggestions, advice, encouragements and requests) in everyday, personally relevant situations. Identifies main intent, main ideas, factual details, words and expressions. Identifies implied meanings. Identifies the functions of utterances (such as suggestions, encouragement and requests). Interprets facts, advice, suggestions and opinions. Identifies cohesive devices and discourse indicators for comparison, contrast, condition and result.) 29

CLB6S Call to make an appointment with a professor or dentist. (I. Interacting with Others: Participate in short phone calls. [Communicating with strangers on the phone may be challenging.] Answers the phone, greets the caller, and closes a conversation using appropriate conventions and expressions. Provides information or leaves a message with 3 to 5 details. Clarifies and confirms information.) 34

CLB7L Listen and respond to a complaint from a friend, colleague or classmate and determine the nature of the complaint and the speaker’s mood and attitude. (I. Interacting with Others: Understand moderately complex social exchanges (such as expressions of and responses to gratitude, hopes, appreciation, complaints, disappointment, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, approval and disapproval). Identifies implied meanings and stated and unspecified details. Identifies language functions. Identifies formal and casual style and register. Understands the intent of the expressions and the responses. Identifies emotional state, mood and attitude from tone and intonation. Interprets feelings such as gratitude, hope and appreciation. Identifies situation and relationship between speakers.) 39

CLB7L Listen to orders from law enforcement officials (such as a police officer, judge, parking enforcement officer, customs official). (III. Getting Things Done: Understand moderately complex communication intended to influence or persuade (such as requests, reminders, orders and pleas) in situations related to personal or general experiences. Identifies the purpose, main ideas, factual details. Identifies implied meanings. Identifies the functions of utterances (such as requests and reminders). Follows discourse indicators signalling cause and effect, condition and result. Interprets requests, reminders, orders and pleas. Predicts consequences and outcomes.) 44

CLB8L Follow instructions from a technical assistant on the phone to resolve a simple computer software issue. (II. Comprehending Instructions: Understand extended multistep directions or instructions for technical or non-technical tasks. [Instructions are over 12 steps, with up to 20 details (fewer on the phone).] Follows sequence markers, cohesive devices (connecting words, reference, parallel structure, substitution) or other linguistic clues to infer order of steps. Responds with actions to directions and instructions.) 49

CLB8L Listen and identify facts and opinions in a conversation between several people about a controversial social issue (such as gambling, censorship, budget priorities) to determine own position on the issue. (IV. Comprehending Information: Understand group interactions about abstract and complex ideas on familiar topics.) 54

APPENDIX A: LISTENING ASSESSMENT 59
APPENDIX B: SPEAKING ASSESSMENT 60
APPENDIX C: READING ASSESSMENT 61
APPENDIX D: WRITING ASSESSMENT 62
INDEX 63

May 9: TESL SK Conference Breaking Out: Running Dictation Triptychs Online

 SHORTCUT HERE:  tinyurl.com/teslsk   Joseph Ng and Binney Sharma, May 9, 2025 The Presentation Slides INTRO This session transforms Dictati...