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

alastairjamesgrant@yahoo.co.uk

More information...?

Thank you for your attention!

twitter: alastairjgrant