Commas can save your life! And increase your income! – Teaching punctuation

• Session B

Punctuation is not really an issue for many teachers, especially in lower-level courses. The CEFR fails to mention punctuation at A1/A2, and, even at B1, restricts itself to “Spelling, punctuation and layout are accurate enough to be followed most of the time.” Furthermore, the predominance of emails as a standard form of private and business communication seems to have contributed to diminishing in many people’s eyes the importance of correct punctuation. However, in higher-level groups, especially ESP courses, greater emphasis is required, yet many students seem to have little idea regarding correct punctuation (even in their first language), and frequently fail to perceive the need. This workshop will show practical, easy-to-apply and sometimes humorous techniques to combat these two problems.