Teaching Speaking to secondary school students
Reasons for speaking
You are a student in a foreign language class. The teacher comes in and says Today we’re going to discuss environmental pollution. How do you feel as a student? Why might you not feel like taking part in the discussion?
What is the aim of a discussion?
How can you enable as much student participation as possible?
Communicative activities
Which items on the following list are communicative activities? Why?
Repeating sentences that the teacher says;
Doing oral grammar drill;
Reading aloud from the coursebook;
Giving a prepared speech;
Acting out a scripted conversation;
Giving instructions so that someone can use a new machine;
Making up a conversation so that it includes lots of examples of a new grammar structure;
One learner describes a picture in the textbook while the other students look at it.
Steps for teaching speaking
Generate interest in the topic
Introduce the ‘stimulus’ (e.g. picture, problem, situation, topic, list of items, etc.)
Make sure students understand the task and goal of the activity
Make sure students understand the process (do they speak? Do they write and then speak? Is there a time limit?, etc. )
Give students thinking/preparation time
Elicit an example, model the activity, get students to demonstrate
Students DO the activity
Give/take feedback on content/performance
Give feedback on language
Using group work effectively
What are the major characteristics of group work?
What are the major benefits of using group work in the classroom?
How can group work be used in the classroom with regard to group size and grouping strategies?
What are the possible problems in using group work?
What can be the solutions to those problems?
Characteristics of group work
Communication, negotiation, socialization
Meaningful context for language use
Learner engagement; teacher as facilitator, motivator
Benefits of group work
Increased used of target language for poorly motivated students;
Increased interaction between teacher and students in large classes;
Provision of instruction in accordance with different language abilities.
Creating a better environment for students to use target language.
How to use group work effectively
Group size:
- whole group
- pairs
- small groups (3 or 4 students)
Grouping strategies:
- random grouping
- student-selected grouping
- teacher-formed grouping
Problems of Using group work
Learners’ dissatisfaction with grouping arrangement
Learners’ extensive use of native language
Individual domination
Learners’ lack of social skills
Noisy and chaotic classroom.
Possible solutions
Explain why groups are arranged in this way
Set the rules
Assigning a clearly defined role
Encouraging students to stay in group work while giving them some sort of isolation
Explaining and organizing activity at the beginning.