Conducting speaking activities

1. Conducting speaking activities SKH Li Fook Hing Secondary School 11 November 2006

2. Rundown • Group discussion and reports • Sharing • Video clips • Material designs • Community inputs • The four exams

3. Group discussion • Among all topics given to students, which is the least interesting (not most difficult) topic for students? • Whenever you see your students (both in and outside classroom), what is the percentage that you are spoken to in English? • What stock phrases did you teach students? • What is your most interesting essence in the oral lesson? (talkative, lively, etc) • What makes you a (less) capable oral teacher? (character, knowledge of social issues, pronunciation, etc.)

4. Teachers • Well-read, lively, proficient, opinionated • Teacher-centered when giving instructions (5 – 10 minutes) • To point out activity / discussion focus for students • To stress that exams are testing skills, not personal beliefs • To walk away from a student when he is speaking

5. Teacher 6. Commonly mispronounced words: secretary / security; social / so-so; common / comment; performance / preformance; used, practised, organized, interested, provided, effort, method; th-sounds: think, father (/f/, /d/) 7. To use stock phrases daily for students to pick up: “That’s an interesting point.” “I don’t quite understand, could you say that again?” 8. Let students speak up in non-oral lessons

6. Chicken feed • Jump queue • Open door • Burn the midnight oil? • An arm and a leg? • Around the clock?

7. Students • To prepare a notebook for useful words and phrases • A four-way discussion (avoid discussing only to the strong candidate) • To agree and comment briefly on what has been presented, then add own point

8. Materials • Games • Current issues • Writing exam topics • Films / Ads

9. Process • To read aloud with students all the time • To ask “why” and say “I don’t understand” all the time, so that students have to elaborate. Then, ask the same question again, and expect a complete answer (the complete answer can easily take up 45 – 60 seconds) • To elicit common knowledge and specific opinions from students (for organization)

10. Process 4. 3 – 4 students per group (not with neighbors) 5. Furniture must be moved, so that everyone sees each other comfortably in the group; aisles needed 6. Teacher to circulate among groups; avoid staying at one group for too long 7. To penalize students who speak in Chinese

11. Process 8. To breakdown the time each student has--CE: 6-minute discussion (each student has 90 seconds = 3 turns x 30 seconds) 9. To have one member in each group to discuss in front of the class 10. The teacher becomes one of the discussants.

12. Video • What are some of the items seen in the video clips absent in your class? Why? • What are the roles of students who are not discussing? • How can you adapt similar activities in your class?

13. Material designs • Based on the newspaper clipping you have received, decide which level you want to use the short article for, and write one discussion question for TSA, CE, or UE practice. • Discuss in your group what you intend students to focus with such a question. Choose the least interesting topic and polish it up as a group. Prepare to report.

14. Community inputs • TV programs / films • Newspapers • Speech festival (Bible / prose reading) • Debates • Drama performances • Inter-school practice

15. The four exams

16. Joint-school practice • Mixed practice (with students at the same level during time-tabled lessons) • S2 and S3 teachers; S4 and S5 teachers; S6 and S7 teachers

17. Let students practice, keep instructions minimal. It is their time to speak up. Thank you