Speaking activities for your teenage students

My students are talking in English! Speaking activities for your teenage students Alastair Grant Teaching Development Manager International House - San Isidro

The reality...! The dream... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLuEY6jN6gY

Why won’t they speak?! Fear of making mistakes Fear of embarrassing themselves It’s not “cool” to speak English in a teenage class! It’s very tiring to concentrate on producing another language Speaking English is difficult 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)

the process... conceptualisation to plan message content formulation of the words and phrases to express meanings articulationinvolved in the motor control of the speech organs self-monitoring to identify and correct mistakes Martin Bygate’s model (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 filterwhich, when raised, blocks language input from entering the individual’s language acquisition...” (Krashen, 1994)

...este... Fillers ..o sea... ...tipo... 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… soit 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! “fluency is not so much speaking fast as pausing less” (Thornbury, 2005) • Adapted from Energy 4 by Elseworth, Steve and Rose, Jim (Longman: Harlow, 2005) p. 37 ex. 7

Fillers “islands of reliability” (Thornbury, 2005) Students talk in pairs again and this time take a Cuisenaire rod when they need to use a filler Tick the box when you hear a filler! This will demonstrate how useful they are

Go with the flow “But...I don’t know what to say...no me sale!” Guided flow chart – for lower levels Open flow chart – for more competent speakers (Adapted from Thornbury, 2005) http://www.breezetree.com/articles/how-to-flow-chart-in-excel.htm

How we met

Interpreters! • In threes, students take on the roles of: • 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

Before and after 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... Britney Spears 2007 Britney Spears 1999 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...

Dogme “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 Teacher has to be very “on the ball” to spot language which is needed and/or can be exploited Chunks of language – helps fluency “If I were you, I would go to school!” “If I were ____________, I would __________ to ____________” Students have 3-4 minutes to complete with as many alternatives as possible “By learning the chunks, the leaner gets the grammar ‘for free´” (Thornbury, 2005)

...Speed dating! • Divide students into boy/girl teams (a little creativity/understanding is sometimes necessary!) Give them a tense/word/phrasal verb which they must decide how to describe in their groups • 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 All the students get to speak to each other!

Debate! 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)

Turn-taking What if they’re just too shy to talk? Activists & Pragmatists (Honey & Mumford, 1982) Need to experiment with the new language as soon as possible Theorists & Reflectors Need 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 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.

More information...? Alastair Grant Teaching Development Manager International House - San Isidro alastairjamesgrant@yahoo.co.uk twitter:alastairjgrant Thank you for your attention!

Speaking activities for your teenage students