Teaching SpeakingFiroozeh Shojaee, M.A., Kazeroon Azad University

firoozeh_shojaee@yahoo.com

چكيده تقويت جهت مختلف فعايتهاي ارائه حاضر مقاله هدف از شده برگرفته فعاليتها اين. باشد مي آموزان زبان گويايي و اينترنت، اسناد كالسيك، كتابهاي قبيل از مختلفي منابعباشد. مي معلمان تحارب

شده بيان موفق گفتاري فعاليتهاي خصوصيات ابتدا در سپس. شده ارائه فعاليتها اين سازماندهي روش چهار استبعد. مجموعه زير و آزاد و شده كنترل فعاليتهاي آن از استاين. شده تشريح آنها هاي به جداگانه توان مي را فعاليتها است دروس از بخشي عنوان به يا و داد انجام گفتار كالس عنوانداد. قرار استفاده مورد تمرين قسمت در ديگر

Abstract The aim of the present study is to show various activities that can be done in order to practice speaking. These activities are collected from various sources including classic books, Internet documents, and teachers’ experience.

First, characteristics of successful speaking activities are presented. Second, four practical ways of organizing speaking activities are stated. Then, various controlled and free activities and their subclasses are described. These activities can be used either as a separate lesson in speaking classrooms or as part of other lessons to practice the new language.

Introduction

The most important skill is speaking, and many learners are interested in speaking. Therefore, teachers should do their best to provide students with the best speaking activities. The goal of a speaking class should be to encourage the acquisition of communication skills and to foster real communication in and out of the classroom.

1

Speaking is a language skill. In order to practice a skill students will usually not use new language, but will use language they already know. Therefore, the teacher doesn’t need to introduce new language. When the teacher is planning a lesson or part of a lesson where the focus is only on improving and practicing speaking, the presentation and guided practice phases should be shorter and lead quickly on to the main part of the lesson (the production phase). Activities, which are done in this phase, should have special characteristics in order to help students improve their speaking ability.

Characteristics of a Successful Speaking Activity

According to Ur (1996) an effective speaking activity has the following features:

1. Learners talk a lot. Classroom activities must be designed in such ways that provide opportunities for learners to talk a lot.

2. All get a chance to speak. A minority of talkative students should not dominate Classroom discussions, and contributions must be fairly distributed. Classroom activities must be designed in ways that help all the students to take risk.

3. Motivation is high. Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in the topic, and want to contribute to achieving a task objective.

4. Language is comprehensible. Learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy. The teacher must also base the activity on easy language so that the students can use the language fluently without hesitation.

5. Students speak the target language. The teacher must keep students speaking the foreign language.

Ways of Organizing Speaking Activities The way in which a classroom is organized can have a significant influence on language learning processes. The dominant view of second language classroom processes today favors a great amount of student-centered learning instead of the traditional teacher-dominated classroom. The teacher-dominated

2

classroom is characterized by the teacher’s speaking most of the time, leading activities, and constantly passing judgments on students performance, whereas in a highly student-centered classroom, students will be observed working individually or in pairs and small groups. The followings are different ways of organizing classroom activities according to Doff (1990):

1. Pair work: the teacher divides the whole class into pairs. Every student works with his or her partner and all the pairs work at the same time.

2. Open or public pair work: as with the pair work, the class will be divided into pairs, and each pair of students speaks in turn in front of the class.

3. Group work: the teacher divides the class into small groups to work together, and as in pair work, all the groups work at the same time.

4. Whole class activity: the whole class takes part into an activity together. An example of this activity is Circle games These games involve the learners sitting in a circle and working as a whole class.

Choosing different ways of organizing the class depends on many things, for example, the activity, level of the students, personal characteristics of the students, the teacher, subject matter, and so on. Doff (1990) argued that for certain types of activities, pair works and group works have a number of advantages over working with the whole class. These advantages are as the followings:

1. Pair works and group works give students far more chance to speak English.

2. Working in pairs or groups encourages the students to be more involved and to concentrate on the task.

3. Students feel less anxiety when they are working privately than when they are on show in front of the whole class.

4. Pair works and group works encourage the students to share ideas and knowledge.

Speaking activities This section deals with techniques for getting students to communicate with each other in English. The aim of such activities is to develop a pattern of language interaction within the

3

classroom, which is as close as possible to that used by native speakers in normal life. The students must be motivated to speak, or need to speak in order to complete the activity. Very young learners aren't motivated by new language; they're motivated by an activity. It can be very difficult to get them to speak if they really don't see the point. The teacher needs to plan the lesson in a step by step way. Students start with guided and controlled activities and move toward less-guided and more student-centered and creative activities. Guided activities, which are easy and short, will help all students to speak or write with few mistakes in a controlled situation. As their confidence and interest grow, less-guided activities will encourage them to speak and write more confidently.

A. Controlled Speaking Activities In controlled practice the teacher can model the forms to be

produced, and provides linguistically correct input. It is very important that the teacher doesn’t teach new structures and new vocabulary in a speaking activity; speaking activities will be used either to practice the new language or as a separate lesson. The teacher allows the students to practice the material, and s/he controls and reinforces the forms practiced and moves from controlled practice to guided practice. Controlled communicative activities are as the followings: 1. Interview

Interview can be used as a speaking activity. It can be done in different ways; therefore, guidelines are necessary for students to establish the way in which interviews should be conducted.

First, the topic of the interview must be determined.

Second, the purpose of the interview should be stated carefully.

Third, we should plan the interview carefully.

Forth, the teacher should teach any special vocabulary needed to talk about the topic.

Followings are some interview activities:

One. The structured interview

4

According to Heidi Riggenbach and Anne Lazaraton (1987) as cited by Celce-Marcia (1991) an example of this activity is where students question each other and answer, thus exchange real information, while at the same time repeating and reinforcing specific structures. For example, Yes-No and Wh-questions:

Can you type letters? Yes I can. How old are you? I am 15 years old.

b. Interviewing famous people One student pretends to be a famous person. Other

students ask him/her different questions in order to find out who s/he is. For example:

Where are you from? Are you alive or dead…?

c. Using superlative questions According to Gareth Reese ( N D) students can interview each other using superlative questions. This activity practices the superlatives in questions, and generates a great deal of student speaking. It is a highly personalized activity, asking the students to talk about their own experiences and opinions. Prepare individual questions on slips of paper. The questions should all use the superlative form. For example,

What's the most interesting country you have been to?

What subjects are/were you worst at school?

What is the tallest building you have been in?

Who is the strangest person you have met?

What is the greatest problem in the world today?

ffffffffffffffffffff. Interviewing experts

It is another interesting activity that is suggested by Ken Wilson ( N D). Three students sit in a line at the front of the class. They are the experts, but they don't know what they are

5

experts about. The rest of the class chooses the area of expertise - e.g. cooking, car maintenance, and trees. The other students then ask the experts questions and the experts answer them.

Example: They are experts about cooking.”

How can we cook a chicken?

What is the best way of cooking rice?

2. Picture Activities Pictures are useful for practicing new language in a controlled way. There are some activities that can be done with pictures.

a. Matching Games Games, which require students to match texts with pictures, are ideal for beginning students who need to practice manipulating certain structures; for example, the students match the word cup with a picture of a cup.

b. Describing Pictures The teacher can divide the class into groups. Each group has a picture that all its members can see. They have two minutes to say as many sentences as they can that describe it. This can be done as a whole class activity.

   Students can also do this activity in pairs. For example, one student has to describe a monster in a picture with his or her own idea or imagination, so that the other can draw it.

  P1: It has three blue eyes       P2: (drawing them, listening to P1)         And one white nose         And one red mouth         And six green ears       ... And it has got two blue hands....

In order to complete the task (=one is describing a picture, and the other is drawing the picture), the pupils have to think up sentences of their own.

6

c. Asking and Answering Questions The teacher asks students to look at a picture then ask and answer questions about it. It may be the picture of a room. The students can ask:What kind of room is it?Is there a cupboard in the room?How many chairs are there?Where is the desk?

Students can also do this activity in pairs. For example, two pupils are talking about a monster given in the same picture, looking at it, as shown in (5).

 (5) P1: What color is the monster?    P2: Green.       ... How many legs has it got?...     It's got 6 legs....       ... Has it got a tail?                  ... Yes, it has.

In the first task, the language is totally controlled. The pupils are not thinking what to say. They are deliberately practicing the language they have been given. This allows them to concentrate on practicing the language accurately (Accuracy). They are practicing 'saying the words,' not using the language (Controlled Practice).

Doff (1990) believed that although the above mentioned activity provides useful language practice, it is often not interesting, because there is no real purpose in asking the questions, nor any need to listen to the answers. We can make the activity more interesting by hiding the information, either from all the students or from some students, so that there is something they need to find out.

d. Guessing Games Guessing games can be done in various ways and there are different ways of organizing them. One way is that the teacher does the activity him or herself. The teacher can also stand aside and let students take over the activity. Doff (1990) suggested some guessing activities, which can be done in English language classes for example:

The teacher has a picture, which the students can’t see. The teacher presents a brief explanation about the picture and then asks the students to ask questions and find out exactly what the picture looks like or draw the picture. Hiding the pictures gives students a genuine reason to ask questions because they

7

want to find out information about the picture. They also have to listen carefully to answers, so that they draw the pictures.

One student stands at the front of the class with a picture in his or her hands and other students guess.

Another technique is that two students stand at the front of the class. One shows the picture to the class but not to the other student. The other student guesses and the rest of the class response in chorus. This activity can also be organized with students working in small groups. The teacher gives a picture to one student in each group, and the others in the group try to guess it.

e. Exchanging information This activity can be done in various ways as Doff (1990) suggested. For example, the students can be in pairs; each member of the pair has a different picture. Without showing each other their pictures they have to find out what the differences are between them by describing each picture, or asking questions about them. For example, “In my picture there’s a boy lying in bed”, “There is a ball”…

To make the activity more interesting Nik Peachy (ND) suggested an interesting activity. The teacher can cut pictures out of a magazine. S/he should make sure to cut out enough for half the class. Then, s/he should follow the following procedure:

Put the students into pairs, one policeman and one witness, and the witness from each pair comes to the front of the class.

Give each one a picture of a person to look at. Tell them that the person in the picture is a criminal. They shouldn't let anyone else see the picture.

Once they've had a couple of minutes to look at the picture, take all the pictures back and then send the witnesses back to their seats.

Their partner, the policemen, then has to ask questions and make notes so that they build up some idea of what the person in the picture looks like.

8

Once they have their description, put all the pictures on the floor at the front of the class and get the policemen to come to the front of the class and see if they can find the picture that the witness described.

You should make sure that the witnesses remain silent until all the policemen have 'arrested' the picture of their choice.

You can then try this again reversing the roles this time. This gives the students a chance to learn from any mistakes that they may have made the first time round.

You can make the activity more difficult by selecting pictures of people who look more similar (same age / sex etc.) or easier by having a greater range of people.

3. Information Gap Activities A popular, well-known type of activity is the information gap. In this type of the activity, one group has half of the information required to complete the task and the other group has the other half (or pairs of students). The two groups need to exchange information or guess to complete the task

One. Exchange Information

According to Sheryl Carvalho ( ND) possible examples of tasks are:

Making an arrangement: each group has a diary, with appointments already filled in. They need to exchange information in order to agree when they can meet.

Giving/receiving directions: 2 sets of maps, each with information missing. 2 sets of directions for these missing places. The students again need to exchange information in order to complete their maps.

Crosswords: each group has some of the answers. They need to make up appropriate questions and then exchange, or ask appropriate questions. Hopefully, the students will be more concerned about completing the crossword, rather than worrying about speaking.

9

Find your partner. Information is written on slips of paper, which can be matched in some way. Each student receives a paper then the students of the class mingle and exchange information in order to find their partner. E.g. for a group of 10 students, to practice colors. Color in 5 slips of paper and write the words for these colors on the other slips. Students ask each other "What color have you got?" in order to find their partner. (The point of this activity from the students’ perspective is finding their partner, not necessarily the practice of the language.)

Shopping list: Doff (1990) suggested an activity that makes students exchange information. Students sit in pairs. One student is a customer, and has a shopping list, another student is a shop assistant, and has a list of items in the shop and their prices. They do not look at each other’s list. The customer tries to buy things. For example:

A: Have you got any tea? B: Yes, I have. A: How much does it cost? B: 10 dollars

Doctors and patients: Gillie Cunningham (ND) who is a Teacher and Teacher Trainer suggested this activity. You should do this in this way:

Divide your class in half, half of the students are doctors, half are patients.

Put the patients in an area of the class that becomes the waiting room.

The patients should either come up with their own symptoms, or you can give them a few ideas. The one who wakes up in the morning feeling sick, the one who can’t sleep or the one who’s putting on a lot of weight or the one who’s losing weight.

You can have any kind of ailment you want and the idea is that every patient should visit every doctor and get advice from that doctor.

Be careful to set a time limit for each consultation with the doctors.

Once the patients have visited each doctor – they may want to make notes of the advice given – they return to the waiting area and decide who was the best doctor, and perhaps who

10

was the craziest! Meanwhile, the doctors all get together, because they are at a medical conference, and they have to compare the advice they’d given – and perhaps decide who was the craziest patient!

It’s usually a great fun lesson, students love it because there is lots of speaking practice and they can use their imaginations and senses of humor.

b. Guessing Games

Sheryl Carvalho (ND) also suggested a guessing game. Secretly put an object in a paper bag or hide it. Then, get the students to guess what's in the bag, by asking an appropriate question. The student who guesses correctly takes over from the teacher. Do this a couple of times, and then let the students take over. Students can do this group vs. group, or in pairs.

Another version of that activity is that the teacher sends two students out of the room. The other students hide an object. The two students come back and guess what the object is and where it is hidden, by asking questions, e.g.

Is it made of wood? Is it a pencil? Is it on this side of the room?

Another guessing activity is that one student chooses a job, and mimes a typical activity which it involves. The others try to guess the job by asking questions either about the activity or the job, e.g.:

Were you mending something? Were you digging? Do you work outside?

Two. Exchanging Personal Information

Daily life: According to Doff (1990) one of the interesting forms of communicative activity in the classroom is for the students to tell each other about their own lives, interests, experiences, etc. Students can ask about their daily routine, for example:

11

When do you get up? When do you have breakfast? When do you go to school?

Family Tree: Daphne (ND) believed that it's amazing how students can't stop telling their friends about themselves. The teacher can also introduce a class of second language learners to the family tree and the different relationships between people in the family - in-laws, step-family, cousins, paternal and maternal sides etc. even terms like widow, widower and divorcee. Then, the teacher can get them to draw their own family tree and share it with their friends, giving 10 minutes each to tell and ask about a particular member in their family, e.g. grandparents, aunts, cousins, siblings etc. Students could hardly stop talking! This is one lesson that saw students continuing their discussion even after the bell rang.

Plans for the summer: according to Clare Lavery (ND) students can also focus on plans for the summer (not just a holiday) and use them to preview the language needed to talk about plans. The teacher can ask students to note down key words while s/he is speaking: “This July I’m planning to work in my Uncle’s shop and I’m going to do some reading for my university course next year. I would like to play a bit of tennis and spend some time with my friends”. The teacher can ask students to do the same exercise in pairs. Note taking will help them listen carefully. The teacher should go round the class asking students to tell about their partner’s plans.

4. Playing Controlled Roles Role-play is used to refer to all types of activities where learners imagine themselves in a situation outside the classroom, sometimes playing the role of someone other than themselves, and using the language appropriate to this new context. Role play increases motivation and adds interest to a lesson, it gives a chance to use the language in new contexts and for new topics, and encourages the students natural expressions and intonation, as well as gestures. Role- play is a way of bringing situations from real life into the classroom. It can be based on a text or dialogue from the textbook. In order to have a role- play based on a dialogue, it is better to explain about dialogue, and ways of teaching a dialogue.

12

Dialogue is a traditional language learning technique in which the learners are taught a brief dialogue which they learn by heart, and then they perform it in pairs, or in front of the whole class. Learners can be asked to perform the dialogue in different ways, in different moods, and in different role relationships. The actual words of the text can be varied, other ideas substituted, and the rest of the dialogue adopted accordingly. Through different dialogues the students learn how to greet, take leaves, begin and end conversations, apologize, thank and so on. The conversation might sound something like this.

Sarah: Hi, Tom. How is everything?Tom: Not bad. How are you?Sarah: Pretty good, thanks.Tom: Sarah, this is Paulo. He is from Brazil.Sarah: Hello, Paulo. Are you on vacation?Paulo: No, I’m a student here.Sarah: Oh, are you studying English?Paulo: Well, yes, I am. Richard (1998 : 5) A dialogue can be a basis for role- play activities. The teacher can call out pairs of students and ask them to have conversation based on the dialogue. The conversation can be similar to the one in the textbook but not exactly the same. The students should think of new places, people, and questions.

B. Free Speaking Activities

All students of English, whether they are intermediate, advanced or beginners, need to have a lot of practice using their English freely in the classroom to practice the language they have learned. Free speaking activities should be planned for the Production phase of a lesson. For advanced students, these activities can be planned to fill a whole lesson or series of lessons. The objective of these types of production activities is to improve the students’ fluency in English without the immediate help of the teacher.

1. Free Role Play Activities Free role-play activities are not based on situations and dialogues that are in the textbook. The students have to decide

13

what language to use and how the conversation should develop. The teacher must prepare for a role-play in the class. The teacher or the students determine the situation for role-play. Then the teacher can discuss what the speakers might say or let students discuss together. It is also possible to ask students to prepare a role-play for homework and perform it later in the class. Teachers can plan role-play activities based on the work of Regina (1997):

a. Before the Role-Play

Explore possibilities concerning sources for role- plays. While literature is the most frequently used source, the media and students' life experiences are also rich sources of role- play situations and issues. The teacher should carefully plan for integration of all language processes into the role- play. The following describes a method of planning a role- play:

choose a topic or theme (one that has a number of potential learning concepts) currently under study

select a concept, being sure that there is a compelling issue involved, that it has human conflict within it, and that there are roles to play for the number of students to be involved

decide upon a key question about the concept or issue selected

list the possible viewpoints that might be adopted

place each viewpoint within a situation (or set of circumstances) in such a way that those characters involved are faced with a problem which needs resolving

Choose a situation for the drama and roles for students and teacher.

The next step is to select one of the situations to begin with and choose viewpoints for participants. For example, students may choose the situation in which "The White family meets with Social Services personnel"; then they must decide who will play each role.

Further preparation for role- play includes the following:

14

engaging students in activities that foster commitment in the role play (e.g., questioning, interviewing, narration, drawing, guided imagery)

setting up the room physically (this may vary from simply rearranging desks to more complicated changes including furniture and lighting)

having students decide how they will first enter the role (giving all the information needed, speaking with the voice they wish to establish; allowing others to understand immediately who they are, where they are, and what is happening)

b. During Role Play

It is important that students feel safe taking risks as they enter into various roles. Establishing expectations and rules (e.g., no put-downs) with students can help students to be supportive of each other during the role-play.

If the role-play has been planned effectively and all the steps have been carried through, the experience should be satisfying and positive for all participants.

The teacher can have different roles while role-play. Some of the possible teacher roles are:

Facilitator: Students may need new language to be 'fed' in by the teacher. If rehearsal time is appropriate the feeding in of new language should take place at this stage.

Spectator: The teacher watches the role-play and offers comments and advice at the end.

Participant: It is sometimes appropriate to get involved and take part in the role-play yourself.

c. After the Role-Play

Assessment of role-plays will mainly occur through reflective discussion and through assessment of the products. Student participation is important; however, participation does not always

15

involve talking. It is possible for a student who has remained very quiet during the role-play to write effectively and thoughtfully about the experience.

2. Simulation Activities According to Ur (1996) in simulations the individual participants speak and react as themselves, but the group role, situation and task they are given are imaginary ones. They usually work in small groups, and there is no audience. For example: (students work in-groups) someone has donated a large sum of money to your school. Imagine that you are members of the committee. One person is the chairperson. Decide how this money should be spent. When the meeting is over, each group can tell another group its plan, or can write up a report of the meeting.

3. Discussion Activities

As cited by Ur (1996) discussions give students practice in expressing ideas orally in an organized manner and enables them to arrive at conclusions, clarify or modify ideas, resolve differences, and find alternative solutions.

Groupings of three to five are good for effective discussion. Everyone is able to contribute to the discussion as a listener and as a speaker. In addition, a small group draws out quieter students who may not contribute to larger group discussions.

In a small discussion group, students are able to structure their own ideas and experiences. Depending on the classroom and the circumstances, groups may be either student-selected or determined by the teacher. Leadership in discussion groups may emerge without appointment, but on occasion it may be advisable to appoint leaders, giving each group member a particular responsibility. Groups need to be rearranged from time to time to allow students to work with a variety of peers.

According to Regina (1997) teachers should pay attention to before, during, and after discussion activities.

a. Before the Discussion

Before the discussion begins, it is necessary for the group to establish the purpose. An overall purpose, for instance, might be

16

to explore responses to a video the students have viewed; or it might be to consider the effect of The Great Depression on a particular writer. It is important that discussion questions are consistent with the purposes set by the group.

Students could generate a list of questions to address before beginning the discussion. Such a list might include:

What role will each group member take?

What do we already know or believe about the topic?

What do we want or need to find out?

How will we go about finding answers to our questions?

How will we assess what we have accomplished?

With whom will we share our findings?

In addition to setting goals, students could produce a list of discussion guidelines for the group to follow.

b. During the Discussion

It is important for students to know that there are no hidden agendas, and that purposes and practices of the discussion have been previously determined. Discussion is guided by the central purpose of developing the group's knowledge or understanding of the matter being discussed. The discussion should be open-ended, not requiring students to come to a single conclusion.

Students should be encouraged to listen closely to all ideas, ask probing questions, summarize or paraphrase ideas, express support for one another, summarize concepts, and check for agreement. They should understand that, when opinions differ, they are criticizing ideas and not people. Besides giving reasons for or defending viewpoints, they must practice integrating ideas and appreciating others' viewpoints.

There are different ways of organizing discussion activities in the classroom students can sit in pairs, groups, or they can sit is circle and talk as a whole class activity. Talking Circles is a way of organizing whole class discussion that is suggested by Regina (1997). Talking Circles

17

provide safe environments in which students are able to share their points of view with others without fear of criticism or judgement. Talking Circles are useful when the discussion topic has no right or wrong answer, when students are sharing feelings, and when students are considering moral or ethical issues. The class sits in a circle and each student has the opportunity to speak. If the circle is large, it can be effective to seat ten or twelve students in an inner circle and the rest in an outer circle arranged around the inner circle. Only those in the inner circle are allowed to speak and students take turns sitting in the inner circle. The circle continues until the participants have nothing further to say on the topic. Some guidelines for Talking Circles include the following:

Address all comments to the issue or topic, not to comments made by other students (avoid both positive and negative responses to another student's comments).

Only one student speaks at a time, while others listen and remain non-judgmental.

The teacher or an appointed student serves as the facilitator who:

ensures that the guidelines are followed acknowledges contributions in non-judgmental ways (a

simple "thank you for your thoughts/contribution" is all that is necessary)

Clarifies comments when necessary (e.g., If I understand you, you are saying...).

Encourage speakers to share their comments in a way that is easiest and most comfortable for them (e.g., personal story, examples or metaphors, analytical statements).

Encourage listeners to focus on the speaker, supporting the speaker by taking an interest in what he/she says, rather than tuning out and thinking about what they will say when it is their turn.

There are different types of discussion activities, which can be done in speaking classes. Following activities are some examples: Students sit in pairs, they talk to one another in order to find as many things as they have in common. Fun discussion of controversial topics is another activity that is suggested by Paul Southan (ND). It is a fun way for students to discuss controversial topics. It is excellent for

18

speaking practice. Basically, you need a controversial topic to start. Once you have established a controversial topic, divide your students into two groups: those who agree with the statement and those who disagree. They now prepare their arguments. Once you have done this, arrange your chairs so that there are two hot seats facing each other and then place chairs behind each of the two hot seats (enough for all of your students). The idea is that two students start the topic of conversation, trying to defend their group's point of view. Once started, you then tap any two students on their shoulders during the conversation (Always one who is in a hot seat and one who isn't). Once they have been tapped on the shoulder they must stop the conversation and two new students must resume it exactly where the other two left it. They must make it coherent and follow the previous opinions and statements! They must continue the sentence of the previous speaker exactly where the previous student in the hot seat left it! It involves all the students and they can't afford to sleep on the back seats because they know they will wreck the lesson if they do! The teacher can pre-teach some useful vocabulary they can use prior to doing it. For example, the vocabulary associated with the topic or which people use in debates e.g. I disagree, I think you are right, In my opinion, to be honest etc.

Another version of that activity is to choose a controversial statement. For example:-

‘Women are the best drivers’

‘Mobile phones should be banned from public spaces’

‘Homework should be optional’

‘Burgers are better than pizzas’

Either dictate or write the statement on the board. Students decide if they accept, reject or modify this statement, according to their personal opinion. When they have made their decision, you would then say ‘OK go round the room and try to find somebody who has the opposite opinion to you’ or ‘OK go round the room and find someone who has a similar opinion’. Alternatively, they could mingle in the class to find the range of opinions, like a small survey – how many students accepted, rejected, or modified the statement.

19

This activity can really stimulate discussion and the focus is very much on the students rather than the teacher.

c. After the Discussion

Most post-discussion activities will be forms of student reflection or self-assessment. Students should be involved in setting criteria and in constructing the form.

Learning logs and journals serve as valuable self-assessment tools for individuals who participate in discussion. The use of audiotape and videotape recordings can also provide records of students' abilities and interactions for review and analysis.

In addition to self-assessment and reflection, members of the discussion group should assess and report on their success as a group. One group member, based upon the consensus of the entire group could fill out an assessment form.

4. Performance Activities According to Heidi Riggenbach and Anne Lazaraton (1987) as cited by Celce-Marcia (1991) performance activities are those activities in which the students prepare beforehand and deliver a message to a group. This activity is sometimes called Project work. When doing project work, students have to produce an extended piece of work with only limited guidance from the teacher. Some activities that help students to practice speaking in long turns are:

1. Telling stories2. Telling jokes3. Describing a person or place in detail4. Recounting the plot of a film, play, or book5. Giving a short lecture or talk6. Arguing a case for or against a proposal 7. Oral report

The following paragraphs elaborate on story telling and oral report as two sample performance activities based on the work of Regina (1997):

20

5. Story Telling

According to Regina (1997) storytelling can be an enjoyable activity for both tellers and listeners and should be engaged in at all grade levels.

The teacher should model storytelling before expecting students to tell stories. As well, students should have opportunities to listen to Native Elders and other storytellers who can provide enjoyment and act as role models for their own storytelling experiences.

Storytelling allows students to internalize important aspects of story beginnings and endings, settings, characters, and plot lines. It provides practice in expressing ideas in thought units, using colorful and descriptive language, developing ideas in sequence, and choosing effective action words.

The speech abilities needed for storytelling are essentially the same ones required for all speaking activities. Storytelling encourages students to experiment with voice, tone, eye contact, gestures, and facial expressions. It also lets them practice techniques for holding audience attention. Storytelling encourages reading motivation and aids listening comprehension. It can lead directly to story writing.

As an introduction to storytelling students might tell riddles, jokes, or personal anecdotes that have some story elements. In each case, practice beforehand is required and close attention must be paid to the conclusion or punch line.

To ease students into the practice of storytelling, the teacher might suggest that they make up different endings to stories that are old favorites and tell them to one another. After a story is read aloud, an individual or group could create an add-on story and tell it. Another introductory activity is having students recall one incident in a story they have read, and telling about that incident as though they are one of the characters involved.

When students are comfortable with the idea of storytelling they can choose to tell tales that appeal to them. Some of the best sources are collections of folk tales and fairytales from around the

21

world. These tales have been gathered from the oral tradition and are records of human survival throughout the ages, as well as unique glimpses into cultures. Titles of suitable collections of tales for storytelling are listed in the bibliography that accompanies this curriculum guide.

The following guidelines apply to storytellers in general (teacher and students):

choose a story that you like that enables you to use words you enjoy, and communicate enthusiasm to your audience

look for a simple, direct story in which the plot unfolds crisply and the characters are few

memorize only refrains or phrases used for special effect

record yourself reading the story aloud and listen to the tape several times

divide the story into sections, constructing the divisions in a way that will make sense to the listeners (e.g., use a storyboard, an outline, a diagram, or a story map)

visualize the settings and the characters (e.g., close your eyes and imagine each location; add details of color, shape, and light; make a mental picture of each character; picture facial expressions, hand gestures, and mannerisms.

next, in your mind, silently run through the story's action from beginning to end (e.g., picture the scenes happening in sequence and develop a sense for which ones happen slowly and which ones are fast-paced)

in your own words, tell the story aloud to yourself

continue with the visualization process as you speak, using your voice to tell about the action, describe the settings, and speak the dialogue

tell the story over a few times referring to your story notes, if necessary

22

put your notes away and tell the story directly from your moving mental images (you will have internalized the tale by now and will know it "by heart")

tell your story on audiotape while it is fresh in your mind and play back the recording to clarify the visual story elements in your imagination

Practice telling your story to a live audience (family, friends, pets) until it comes naturally.

Students may wish to tell stories from real experiences or from their imaginations, rather than retelling stories they have read; or they may wish to retell a story they have heard. Topics for personal stories might include how students got their names, favorite family possessions and the stories behind them, grandparent stories, and family pet stories

Listeners require a physical setting that allows them comfort during the storytelling, perhaps on a rug and cushions in the reading corner. Listeners should be encouraged to relax and to concentrate on understanding and enjoying the storytelling experience.

Storytellers should find a comfortable position, look directly at the audience, tell the story as they have practiced it, and let the tale do its work.

Storytellers may darken the room, play music, or do whatever helps to create an appropriate mood. They may select visual aids or props (e.g., an article of clothing, illustrations, wordless film) to enhance the effectiveness of their stories. These aids offer a number of advantages:

provide the shy speaker with a prop

guide students through a sequence

motivate student interest

Combine visual and oral activities.

Talking with students about their listening experience after the story has been told is an important way to develop their "story sense". As well, discussing what they have heard allows students to reflect on the interpretations each of them has of story and how their own unique life experiences and prior knowledge affect those

23

interpretations. Students need time to explore thoughts and feelings about story characters and events.

If an audio recording is used for self-assessment, storytellers might listen for the effectiveness of the use of pauses, intonation, phrasing, certain sound effects, timing, repetition, or voice pitch and volume. They can chart these on a checklist they have created for this purpose. If a video recording is used, they might wish to assess posture, effectiveness of visual aids, hand gestures, body movements, and facial expressions. After viewing or listening to the tape and completing the checklist, students could identify one or two areas for improvement.

In the usual classroom setting, students deliver a speech and the teacher gives feedback, often using an evaluation form. Peer evaluation can be a useful component of oral performance activities since 1. Students become more than simply passive listeners 2. The evaluation process helps students to gain confidence in their own ability to evaluate language, and 3. The evaluation activity itself becomes an opportunity to interact actually in the foreign language.

6. Oral Reports

Another kind of performance activity is oral reports. In preparing reports, students develop the ability to select material appropriate to classroom topics and to the audience, and the ability to collect and organize material (requiring skill in reading critically, taking notes, summarizing, and outlining). Often a report can be made more meaningful to the audience through the use of visuals such as charts, maps, diagrams, and overhead transparencies.

Oral reports should emerge from other English language arts processes. If some students are not comfortable with reporting, they can develop more confidence by taking part in other oral activities before they are ready to give a report.

Reports should be written, and then presented orally. Students need to be instructed about where and how to locate information, how to prepare notes, and how to put the information into their own words. (Regina 1997)

24

Error Correction Students should not feel bad about making errors, so correction must be done positively and with encouragement. Students are learning when they make mistakes or help to correct other students’ mistakes. There are some questions about correcting oral errors, which will be answered according to Baker (2003):Question: When must a teacher correct an error? Answer: During the presentation phase, or during the early stages of the Practice phase of a lesson, the teacher corrects all errors at the same time; therefore, students know when they make mistakes in vocabulary, grammar or pronunciation. In the later stages of the practice phase, teachers will continue to correct, but, as students improve, this will not happen so often. In the production or fluency stage the teacher monitors the groups and makes a written note of some errors s/he hears. At the end of the lesson or at the beginning of the next lesson, puts some of them on the board and asks students to help him or her correct them. Question: Who should correct a student?Answer: The teacher should point out the error and let the student try to correct her or himself first. Other students can also be asked to suggest a correct version.Question: How should teachers correct errors?Answer: .1. Let the student know there is an error:1st. The teacher can repeat the error and raise his/her

eyebrow or make a facial expression to show that there is an error.

2nd. The teacher can ask other students.3rd. The teacher can repeat the word with a rising intonation to

suggest that it is incorrect.2. Help students to correct themselves and others:1st. Say “nearly”. Repeat and leave a gap for the student to

correct him or herself.2nd. Say “Not… I come yesterday … but I ….? Wait for the

student to correct him or herself.3rd. If the student doesn’t know the correct form, the teacher

can say, “Can anyone help? “. In this way the teacher invites suggestions from other students.

4th. Repeat the error and say: “Tense?” or “stress?” or other things to help the student correct her or himself.

25

REFERENCES Allen, V. F. (1983). Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary. Oxford University Press.

Baker, J. and Westrup, H. (2003). The English Language Teacher’s Handbook. London: Continuum.

Budden, Joanna. ( ND )Teaching English: Speaking, British Council, BBC world service, Bush House, strand, LondonWC28 4PH, UK. Available in http://www.teaching-english-net/try/speaktry/speaking-activities.shtml

Carvalho, Sheryl. ( ND) Teaching English: Speaking, British Council, BBC world service, Bush House, strand, LondonWC28 4PH, UK. Available in http://www.teaching-english-net/try/speaktry/speaking-activities.shtml

Celce-Marcia, M. (1991). Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston, Massachosetts: Heinel & Heinel Publishers, a Division of Wadsworth, Inc.

Celce-Marcia, M and Hills, SH. (1988). Techniques and Resources in Teaching Grammar. Oxford University Press.

Chastain, K. (1988). Developing Second Language Skills: Theory to Practice (3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich

Cook, V. (1991). Second Language Learning and Language Teaching. London: Edward Arnold, a Division of Hodder & Stoughton.

Cunningham, G. (ND) Teaching English: Speaking, British Council, BBC world service, Bush House, strand, LondonWC28 4PH, UK. Available in http://www.teaching-english-net/try/speaktry/speaking-activities.shtml

Daphne. (ND) Teaching English: Speaking, British Council, BBC world service, Bush House, strand, LondonWC28 4PH, UK. Available in http://www.teaching-english-net/try/speaktry/speaking-activities.shtml

Doff, A. (1990). Teach English. A training course for teachers. Cambridge University Press in association with The British Council.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (1986). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Laverly, C. (ND) Teaching English: Speaking, British Council, BBC world service, Bush House, strand, LondonWC28 4PH, UK. Available in http://www.teaching-english-net/try/speaktry/speaking-activities.shtml

26

Moras, Solange. (2001). Teaching Vocabulary to Advanced Students: A Lexical Approach. Karen’s Linguistics Issues. Sao Carlos, Brazil. http://www3.telus.net/linguisticissues/teachingvocabulary.html

Peachy, N. (ND) Teaching English: Speaking, British Council, BBC world service, Bush House, strand, LondonWC28 4PH, UK. Available in http://www.teaching-english-net/try/speaktry/speaking-activities.shtml

Reese, G (ND ) Teaching English: Speaking , British Council , BBC world service, Bush House, strand, LondonWC28 4PH, UK. Available in http://www.teaching-english-net/try/speaktry/speaking-activities.shtml

Regina, SK. (1997) Speaking and Listening: Instructional Philosophy and Teaching Suggestions. English Language arts: A curriculum Guide for the middle level (Grade 6-9) Available http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/mla/speaking

Southan, Paul. (ND) Teaching English: Speaking, British Council, BBC world service, Bush House, strand, LondonWC28 4PH, UK. Available in http://www.teaching-english-net/try/speaktry/speaking-activities.shtml

Ur, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wealand, Craig. ( 1999 ) Teaching Vocabulary 1 and 2. Available http://www.mansioningles.com

Wilson, Ken. (ND) Teaching English: Speaking, British Council, BBC world service, Bush House, strand, LondonWC28 4PH, UK. Available in http://www.teaching-english-net/try/speaktry/speaking-activities.shtml

27

28