Speaking
There are many areas to speaking and this article looks at the main concerns you, as a teacher, should have here.
Contents |
Sub-Skills
In the sphere of speaking, there are several sub-skills worth looking at:
- pronunciation
- using stress, rhythm and intonation well enough so that people can understand what is said
- using the correct forms of words
- word order
- using appropriate vocabulary
- using the appropriate language register
- building an argument
These sub-skills go towards the main goal of teaching speaking: being able to hold a steady, understandable conversation.
General Ideas about Speaking
Preparation
Before expecting the class to speak, you need to prepare them for the task. This helps in taking away nerves and helps avoids the situation where a student is standing there with nothing to say.
Give the students the topic of the conversation and allow them a few minutes to think about it. Perhaps they can make written notes, reference for the points they wish to cover. Although this sounds formal, it can be used with the most commonplace of conversations.
For example, you are going to get the class to discuss what they did at the weekend. Ask them to write down four or five things which they did at the weekend in preparation. At this time you might go over specific vocabulary; students can find the words they need here.
The main idea behind the preparation is that when it comes to speaking your students can concentrate on how to say something rather than get bogged down in what to say.
Likewise, at this point look at the context for the language. Explain that they will use a different register or style of speaking if they are talking to the President of their country than if they were talking to their classmate.
Real Life
Teach only real-life speaking. There's no need to present to them stilted speech patterns. In order to do this your students need as much exposure as possible to genuine language and speakers. This can be done through movies, guests, podcasts and so on.
In other words, you should provide your students with a good model which they can follow. This might be the time to introduce drills where common speech patterns can be covered.
Details
Don't get too bogged down in details at the beginning. If the students have certain pronunciation problems, for example, don't interrupt the lesson or their speaking to correct them. Save it for later. This helps develop fluency first, detail later.
Maximising Speaking Time
As a teacher your English needs no practice. However, your students must practice speaking as much as possible therefore it is best to minimise Teacher Talking Time to allow your students to speak more.
You can do this in several ways:
- Don't repeat yourself
- Ask open-ended questions
- Wait for an answer
In the same way, try to involve the whole class in speaking activities since it's often the case that some louder students will dominate the proceedings.
