Please feel free to leave any constructive criticism, feedback or questions in the comments section :) Please note that while all of this is my own work, I have obviously been influenced by previous trainers and teachers I have worked with, as well as two years of trawling through the web to help improve my own practice. I have tried to reference all data and material taken from other writers to the best of my ability. Any similarities to other works is completely coincidental, please contact me if you believe that anything is referenced incorrectly.
One of the things that students always request when we get feedback from them is “more speaking.” This presents us with several issues:
How does this help students in real life? – This helps students practice more practical skills that people might use every day. Tasks such as finding directions, navigating a city, finding people with which you have something in common, asking for help etc.
How does this help students in real life? – This helps students practice interaction on a deeper level. This can help them prepare for interviews, making friends, talking to colleagues or classmates in a different country. This also gives students the freedom to experiment with language from previous lessons.
To figure out which type of activity to use, we need to identify which sub-skill we want to activate.
Identifying which sub-skill/s that you want to focus on in speaking activities is extremely important. “Speaking” is a very wide umbrella-term which refers to all of the things listed above. For example, a lot of the students we receive in our school who are between the ages of 16-20 come to us with high Accuracy and a good ability to use functions, but are weak in Fluency and Relevant Length. This is because of factors such as the educational environment in local high-schools, L1 interference and a lack of exposure to natural speech. If I were to focus solely on Functions for a month with one of my classes, I would be wasting my students’ time.
We also need to be able to identify which sub-skills are activated in the resources that we find in our coursebooks, supplementary materials library and with activities we find online.
For example, with an Adult B1 class we had covered Reported Speech and how to sequence events. I know that reported speech is a language point that many learners find easy to understand in class, but difficult to retain outside of class and difficult to use in more realistic situations.
To practice this, I printed out several “shocking” news articles from across the web and put students into pairs, I made sure that each article had quotes from eye-witnesses or from the victims, and highlighted those quotes before giving the articles to the students. I had 8 students, and I printed out 4 different articles. Students first paired-up with a partner who received the same article. They read it together and helped each other to understand. I did not include a written comprehension, as the focus was not on reading skills. I orally asked each pair some basic questions to check understanding, and when I was satisfied, we moved on.
The students were then told that they would be switching partners and would begin to work with someone who had a different article. They were instructed to retell the story in their own words, and that they had to make sure to include the highlighted quotes in their retelling. I gave them time to prepare with their original partner before having them switch.
The students then, with their new partners completed the instructions, when both partners have told their respective stories, they read each other’s article and give feedback to each other. This was:
Helping our learners to respond to formal invitations and survive in an interview is important, but we can’t forget to teach them how to use English for regular, every-day purposes. Drilling pre-canned phrases doesn’t quite cut it when preparing them to go and live in an English-Speaking country or to work in an international company.
Those of us who were educated in Commonwealth countries probably learned French at school. And most of us were probably taught the following phrase: “les chat est sur la table” (the cat is on the table). I have almost never needed this phrase in my L1, let alone in a foreign language!
We need to create realistic scenarios and situations in our classes. We can’t just teach our students a bunch of phrases and then hope that they’re not required to do anything else.
This becomes an issue for non-native teachers, mainly because they themselves have limited practice with using the language in real life, outside of the classroom (if living and teaching in a non-English Speaking country). This is not to say that non-native teachers cannot teach speaking, only that certain aspects might be a little more difficult for them.
First, let’s look at a few things which can hinder students from sounding natural:
To go through each of these things individually will take forever, but as a piece of general advice, I recommend putting as much natural language in the class as possible. A really easy way to do this would be through video, podcasts and music. Our students need exposure to natural-sounding language, and the coursebooks don’t always deliver on that front.
Teachers should also try to sound as natural as possible in the class. Of course we must maintain control, and in some cases discipline, but our class should have a relaxed atmosphere. We should talk to learners like equals, not like inferiors. This is beneficial for a whole number of reasons, and definitely gives students a good model of what natural language sounds like.
We also need to include activities in class that simulate ordinary situations, like telling a friend about a holiday or inviting people to places. Our students need to actually DO this, not just see it being done. A great way to do this is through roleplay and drama activities. I like to use drama activities so that students can immerse themselves in a different personality and try to communicate as that person would. Longer drama activities are perfect for that, but even short drama activities (for learners of ALL ages!) can help students sound more natural, and feel more comfortable while speaking the language.
Lackman, K. (2010). Teaching Speaking Sub-skills. Retrieved from KenLackman.com: http://www.kenlackman.com/files/speakingsubskillshandout13poland_2_.pdf
Piccolo, L. (2010, July 17). Tips for Successful Speaking Activities in the ESL Class. Retrieved from Suite101: https://suite101.com/a/tips-for-successful-speaking-activities-in-the-esl-class-a262535