By Melanie Quillen
Vice President of Plane English: www.planeenglish.com
ICAEA Board Member
After using inappropriate general English books in the aviation
language classroom for lack of market available aviation specific
English language learning material, my students were relieved,
motivated and enthusiastic when they were first introduced to
their new course books, Cleared for Takeoff by Liz Mariner. Finally,
there is a way to learn English necessary for flight in one course
made for pilots by pilots.
Students were continually motivated and stimulated by the relevance
and applicability to their flying. A myriad of collocations and vocabulary
mixed with information on how to actually use language in every part
of their training and flying prevailed in this process. Listening/speaking
exercises and role-plays are abundant for practice and performance
to instill these skills so they can become second nature. The students
love the vibrant and clear photos. I appreciate the excellent binding
of high-grade paper as they withstood the constant handling of over
60 course hours. Everyone recognized the cost/quality ratio and found
the cost relatively low in comparison to previous purchases for any
English course book.
The exercises are effective and never too difficult. Students found
these activities challenging especially the gap-fill from listening
exercises. The audio CDs are an excellent method for increasing listening
comprehension as each track is not as rapid fire as live traffic
but certainly always authentic as listening to the frequencies of
a training airport. As more than one student noted, each track is
introduced with the track name and title of the exercise. The voices
and situations sound real and are never condescending or “fake”.
They sound like real transmissions in real situations; challenging
and interesting. I found that my students enjoyed listening on their
own outside of the classroom just for the authenticity and feel of
being in the traffic circuit. Students were also assigned listening
to tracks as part of pronunciation practice by reproducing the transmissions
at their computers in self-study while I moved around the language
computer lab and monitored. Some of the exercises were drilled in
chorus as well. This proved most effective for numbers, call signs
and the NATO alphabet.
Role-playing was enjoyed by all students and even taken farther
for fun and learning. Those at higher language levels and with more
flying experience even added their own “twists”
to certain situations and were able to augment the language and difficulty
for each transmission. Most of the role-playing activities were performed
with the students sitting back-to-back or using two-way radios and
headsets connected to computers to simulate non face-to-face dialogue.
This latter helped also in teaching proper radiotelephone procedure
(distance between the mouth and microphone as well as voice level)
for clearer communication when in the cockpit with actual headsets.
The topics also sparked many in-class discussions and aided in guided
group discussions leading to students putting their new knowledge
into practice. The meteorology and navigation units were hits among
the students, as they seem to be the most enjoyed subjects amongst
pilots. We used local airports in comprehension exercises after these
units and it gave me many instances of monitored conversation and
even helped some students learn more as pilots as they shared their
experience and knowledge of airfields and airspace unknown to others.
The Meteorology units were also popular, as I had invited an experienced
pilot instructor who took the lesson into profound descriptions of
cloud types and heights. This was excellent for guided group discussion
for comprehension of the exercises.
The Unit Reviews helped me perform comprehension checks and assisted
in understanding weak and strong areas of each student.
From a non-pilot point-of-view, the Teacher’s Supplement helps
with answers and explanations for various situations one might face
by not being an aviator, this also is a plus when faced with student
pilots whose knowledge of flying in and outside the traffic pattern
is limited.
The only thing missing is a focus on emergency calls. This aspect
is not really covered yet most important.
Some examples of relevant language teaching in an aviation theme:
- Students learn to formulate questions by means of exercises
throughout almost all units. These accomplished through role-play
in specifics of aircraft, the traffic pattern, speaking with
the instructor (i.e. Unit 3, The Aircraft
“which aircraft has low wings?” and Unit 5, Let’s
Go Flying
“what does “taking over’ mean?”)
- Present Continues by describing the movement of aircraft positions
in the traffic pattern (Unit 6, Introduction to the Traffic Pattern).
- Teaching the use of present simple, first conditional (so important
in briefing situations) and cause and effect are addressed in Unit
3, The Aircraft by using the “Language Associated with Engine
and Propeller Controls”.
- Prepositions are taught through Unit 5, Let’s Go Flying
with respect to the cockpit layout.
- Adjective order is taught in Unit 11, VFR Navigation.
Being a language classroom and not a ground school lecture hall
I was able to use the books out of sequence to suit my needs by teaching
the language objectives in the order I chose. Language and vocabulary
were introduced as would be used in both FAA and ICAO countries as
well as many explanations of various ways to refer to situations,
parts of aircraft and the airport itself to help teach students the
many differences they will find in language on the airways and in
the real world of aviation. Highly visible language notes help for
understanding of these differences.
The Teacher’s Supplement gives clear and organized ideas for
the use of Cleared for Takeoff in the classroom and simplifies in
addition to saving the teacher’s time. The lesson plans are
clear and effective as well as insightful as to targets and objectives.
Handouts are clear and easy to read. Answers to the handouts and
exercises are present as well as explanations for those of us who
are not pilots. The digital format is extremely convenient and cost
efficient leaving the teacher to print or not as necessary as well
as avoiding shipping costs.
Students are tired of having to use and pay for English language
textbooks and audio modeled around topics and discussions irrelevant
to their needs, desires and interests. Seeing that not all language
is pertinent to pilots, teachers are not happy to spend money and
time omitting and adapting lessons to produce photocopied or unprofessional
looking handouts and exercises in class. Cleared for Takeoff gives
these pilots and their teachers everything they need and want-a course
book made for them by one of them! One hundred percent of the information
in these books is useful and relevant to those who need to speak
English in the traffic pattern, on the airways and in the cockpit
bound in two colorful and easy to use manuals. Teachers and students
alike can appreciate the experience of Captain Mariner as a Master
Flight Instructor and language teacher allowing them to benefit from
her knowledge and enthusiasm.
By Melanie Quillen
Vice President of Plane English
ICAEA Board Member
www.planeenglish.com |