alastair grant teaching development manager international house - san isidro
DESCRIPTION
Fear of embarrassing themselves Fear of making mistakes Speaking English is difficult It’s not “cool” to speak English in a teenage class! It’s very tiring to concentrate on producing another language Speaking English is not fun More information atTRANSCRIPT
Speaking activities for your teenage students
My students are talking in English!
Alastair Grant
Teaching Development ManagerInternational House - San Isidro
The dream...
The reality...!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLuEY6jN6gY
Fear of embarrassing themselves
Why won’t they speak?!Fear of making mistakes
Speaking English is difficult
It’s not “cool” to speak English in a teenage class!It’s very tiring to concentrate on producing another language
Speaking English is not fun
More information at http://www.onestopenglish.com/
...ok.... but why is speaking so important for our students anyway...?
“It is the skill by which they are most frequently judged, and through which they make or lose friends. It is the vehicle
par excellence of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of business.”
(Martin Bygate, 1987)
“Low anxiety, high motivation, and high self-esteem and self-confidence lead to better second language development, because of the presence of an affective filter which, when raised, blocks language input from entering the individual’s language acquisition...”
(Krashen, 1994)
Martin Bygate’s model (1987)
conceptualisation
to plan message content
formulation of the words and
phrases to express meanings
articulation involved in the
motor control of the speech organs
self-monitoringto identify and correct mistakes
the process...
...tipo...
...este...
..o sea...
Adapted from Energy 4 by Elseworth, Steve and Rose, Jim (Longman: Harlow, 2005) p. 37 ex. 7
Interviewer: What was the campaign about?
Rosie: Well… there was a big and beautiful tree near my house. It was really, you know, important to me because when I was little, I used to, like,
play in the tree… so it was special to me. Anyway they were going to just you know, just cut it down for a road.
Interviewer: What did you do in the campaign?
Rosie: Oh we did… everything! We wrote letters to the council and, you know, the newspapers… we talked to people in the town. Oh yeah… we started a petition and we got, like, two thousand signatures! It was, sort of amazing! I even had an interview on national radio! It was, like, so scary!
Fillers
“fluency is not so much speaking fast as pausing less”
(Thornbury, 2005)
like… sort of… I mean…
you know… well… kind of…
Fillers
Tick the box when you hear a filler!Students talk in pairs again and this time take a Cuisenaire rod when they need to use a filler
This will demonstrate how useful they are
“islands of reliability”(Thornbury, 2005)
Go with the flow
Guided flow chart – for lower levels
(Adapted from Thornbury, 2005)
Open flow chart – for more competent speakers
“But...I don’t know what to say...no me sale!”
http://www.breezetree.com/articles/how-to-flow-chart-in-excel.htm
How we met
In threes, students take on the roles of:
Interpreters!
• interviewer• a famous person who can only speak L1 • an interpreter.
Conduct an interview with the interpreter facilitating the communication. Gets students thinking about pragmatic features such as the body language people use when speaking
Britney Spears 1999
Britney Spears 2007
In 2007 she seems to have some problems, while in 1999 she must have been much happier
...on the other hand, she is posing for the camera there...
In this picture, she seems to be... whereas in this picture...
...however, in 2007, she must be...
...in contrast to 1999, she may have been under a lot more pressure...
Before and after
Dogme
Chunks of language – helps fluency
“language is not a subject – it is a medium” (Meddings & Thornbury, 2001)
Your students decide the agenda for the class
Material is generated by the students
“If I were you, I would go to school!”“If I were ____________, I would __________ to ____________”
“By learning the chunks, the leaner gets the grammar ‘for free´”(Thornbury, 2005)
Teacher has to be very “on the ball” to spot language which is needed and/or can be exploited
Students have 3-4 minutes to complete with as many alternatives as possible
...Speed dating!
All the students get to speak to each other!
Divide students into boy/girl teams (a little creativity/understanding is sometimes necessary!)
Put the two teams opposite each other and they must describe the language point which they represent
“I am used to describe a habit or a routine...”
The boys swap round after two minutes and the team to have guessed more at the end wins
Give them a tense/word/phrasal verb which they must decide how to describe in their groups
Choose a motion: “Reality Shows are the best kind of TV”
Students have five minutes to prepare their arguments
Monitor as a facilitator
Students come up to the front in pairs and debate
One minute only, and then swap with the next person in their group
“Competition provides a valuable force to a purposeful use of language”
(Byrne, 1984)
Debate!
Turn-taking
Need to experiment with the new language as soon as possible
Activists & Pragmatists (Honey & Mumford, 1982)
Theorists & ReflectorsNeed time to assimilate new language
Try combining your students with different learning styles for speaking activities
The Activists and Pragmatists must ask questions of the Theorists and Reflectors to get them involved
What if they’re just too shy to talk?
Try to monitor behind your students... if they see you, they will usually address you instead of their partner!
Feedback
Pick up the the positive aspects as well as negative – positive reinforcement is crucial for students to feel motivated
Board some examples of good language as well as improvable language for the students to identify
Board some language as gapfills:
“It was raining ___________ when she left the party.” (collocation)
Positive reinforcement for person who said it and reactivates it in the minds of those who didn’t.
Alastair GrantTeaching Development ManagerInternational House - San Isidro
More information...?
Thank you for your attention!
twitter: alastairjgrant