Learning English - or any living language - can be fun and so it should be. Otherwise we poor teachers have a much more tiring and despairing job before us. Our 'beginners' should now and then forget that there is a grown-up in front of them trying to fill them up with knowledge, and just imagine they are not 'studying' but enjoying a few games. That is why I like to have them learn basic English vocabulary, a lot of practical elementary structures and some rather interesting information and cultural facts about Britain with a lot of fantasy and some fun too. Instead of giving them regular solid pieces of vocabulary to learn by heart I try to make them use their intelligence and imagination week after week in producing a very personal, illustrated book in which the best weekly work of the class is 'immortalised' - "Our little dictionary". It's great fun and they learn a lot - and start liking English as a school subject - without even noticing it. Here is how it works, so that those colleagues who are interested can try and do it too.

Every week, on an appointed day (preferably Monday, because there is a full weekend before it), the lesson or part of it is devoted to one of the 26 vocabulary areas in which I have tried to group the language needs of a beginners' class, in accordance with the current school curriculum. The class is taught some essential words (mostly nouns, adjectives and verbs) and elementary sentences dealing with the topic. Besides the vocabulary I have prepared at home I often have to complement the list according to the sudden wishes and demands - usually very clever ones - of the class, so that, at the end of the lesson, what I have actually taught them is not simply what was thought of beforehand but what we both - pupils and teacher - have decided is really important and necessary.

In a lesson about meals, for instance, I'll teach them the names of the principal meals, tell them what the English usually eat at each of them, describe the objects which might be seen on the table or in the kitchen (without entering into too many details) and teach them how to order and address the waiter in a restaurant. We will also discuss likes and dislikes (I like ... but I really hate ...) and I will perhaps excite their imagination with improbable menus and silly associations, so that they will laugh and not think of those words as vocabulary they have to learn.

Their homework for next Monday is to produce individual pages (using the ordinary notebook they have for drawing in the Art class) illustrated on both sides with pictures and sentences on the subject of Meals. Of course, most of our pupils aren't artists and won't be able to illustrate a sheet of paper in a very satisfactory way, so I encourage them to use cut-outs (taken from magazines, newspapers, leaflets, advertising materials, etc,.) and paste them on their work. I tell them that not only pens and pencils but also scissors are allowed and am often surprised at the ingenuity which some of the boys and girls in the class use in order to produce original homework, which - both as far as words and pictures are concerned - are often little short of being masterpieces. With very few exceptions both the class and I enjoy seeing "Our little dictionary" grow and look forward to the next Monday, when they will hand me in their 'secret' work, write down the vocabulary and sentences on the next topic area, which I write on the board, and await with impatience the moment when I disclose to the the class which are the three pieces of homework I have chosen at home as the 'three best' of the previous week.

I always try to choose those that are genuinely the best pieces but admit that I tend to give more importance to the English than to the actual artwork and also try to avoid the same pupils (usually the most artistic ones in the class) being chosen too frequently.

I hand them back the pages which weren't chosen and slowly show everybody the three 'top' ones, reading the texts aloud and commenting on them to the class. Now and then, suggestions are made which the author-artist may still add to his or her page, if he or she feels like it and if there is still blank space available. Ii don't correct all the mistakes (only the most 'deadly' ones) but never choose a sheet with a lot of them. On the other hand, I do correct (in pencil) the mistakes on the pieces that aren't chosen and which the pupils are supposed to keep in their exercise books. I never grade this work - among other reasons because they weren't done in class - but always do write down who has done the homework and who hasn't. Most weeks there are one or two pupils who don't hand in their sheet but as long as it is not always the same pupils I don't make a fuss about it and accept their explanation. Another important point which shouldn't be forgotten is that their work should be (almost) anonymous, so that I don't know who the author is when I am comparing and choosing the best pieces of work. No names are allowed but each pupil must write his or her number as inconspicuously as possible, in the bottom right hand corner on the back. Sometimes the number is so well hidden among the pictures and background illustrations that I have a hard time trying to locate it - and it is a triumph for the author if I don't succeed in finding it and have to ask in the class the following Monday.

Every Monday I bring to the class the ring-file in which the chosen pages are placed, so that the pupils may look at it (normally at the end of the lesson) and see how their beloved dictionary is getting thicker and thicker. It is essential that all sheets are of the same size and paper quality. If a sheet doesn't have the holes punched, I have to do this before I can file it.

I normally give the class a topic area every week, beginning with easy vocabulary areas like numbers and colours, and never follow the alphabetical order. As the school year doesn't always have enough weeks available for the 26 themes which form our dictionary, I sometimes have to give them 2 or even 3 for the Christmas and Easter holidays, and they particularly enjoy handing me in their colourful work on Christmas (the topic "Xmas") or Easter (the topic "Vacations") on the first day of lessons. Usually I end the school year with the most personal and difficult topic (the topic "Essay"), in which they are expected to write and illustrate a short story.

It is extremely difficult to distribute all the necessary vocabulary areas among the 26 letters of the English alphabet, as some letters seem ideal to handle more than one topic (C = Colours or Clothes?, T = Time or Travelling?, L = Lines or London?, J = Jokes or Journey?), while other letters are apparently useless (Q, Y, Z).

After many years of thoughtful changes and experiments I have for the time being settled on the following list of topics, which tries to cover everything that beginners might possibly be expected to learn:

Near the end of the school year I hand them a special sheet ("Our class", on which they write their names and numbers. Sometimes boys and girls decide to sign using different colours and want me to sign at the bottom using a third colour.

I then ask some of the pupils (the ones who seemed to me to be the most interested among the ones who had seldom or never been chosen) to prepare a page listing the 26 topic areas of our dictionary ("Contents") and the front page (frontispiece) of our book, with the school name, the title words "Our Little Dictionary" and the date (school year). These pages are specially suitable for interested pupils with little imagination and they frequently feel very proud of having been chose to do it. Shortly before the end of the lessons I ask two or three of the most artistic pupils to take the cover of our ring-book home and decorate it with colourful pictures and the title words "Our Little Dictionary". Usually I receive it back wonderfully embellished with either a map of Britain, the Union Jack, a portrait of the Queen or some typical British symbols (a red double-decker, a Formula One racing car, some English pop singers, etc.).

Last but not least, I keep all the old dictionaries carefully at home. One lesson at the beginning of a school year I bring two or three of my favourite ones to the class and show them around. Then I explain how they were done, what fun the pupils had, and innocently ask if they would like to try it too. No more words are needed and the newest version of "Our Little Dictionary" is on its way...

P.S. Well, dear colleagues, would you like to have a go too? One last piece of advice: don't forget that you will have one hour less every week for your textbook and all the things you are supposed to teach during the school year. You'll have a hard time, a lot of extra work at home (correcting the huge pile of weekly worksheets) but you'll (probably) have class which will like English ... for ever. The choice is yours.