Let’s talk about timing

• How important is timing in – reading exercises?– writing exercises?– listening exercises?– speaking exercises?

• What about handouts?

Speaking Lessons

Adapted from: Slattery, Mary and Willis, Jane (2004). English for Primary Teachers. OUP

When students are listening they

• are still actively leaning• are acquiring language and learning to

understand• are absorbing pronunciation and intonation• can repeat what they hear• can answer or comment in their mother

tongue.

Using classroom phrases• Establish from the beginning proper set phrases to

ask questions.• When students repeat phrases, it does not

necessarily mean language acquisition is taking place, but they are– getting used to saying English sounds– practising the intonation pattern– gaining confidence, especially if you praise them when

they use the new phrases.• Establish from the beginning proper ways to ask

and answer questions.

Ways to help with speaking?• What methods have we already learned?• Say rhymes and sing songs to practice

pronunciation, stress and intonation– for enjoyment– as part of your teaching plan– as a change in activity– to revise vocabulary– to connect with new and familiar topics– to practice up-to-date expressions– for drama and to practice pronunciation

Five Ways to elicit language

• Wh-questions: What’s this?• Questions using intonation only: A dog?• Questions using inversion: Is this an

elephant?• Unfinished sentence quesitons with rising

intonation: This was a…?• Either/or questions: Is this an elephant or a

kangaroo?

Cognitive development and language learning

• We need to think of the whole child and encourage both cognitive and educational development.

• Our choice of topics is very important.• Try to include new knowledge in your

lesson besides just new language.

Seven activities to help with cognitive development

• Help students develop their thinking skills• Help students work from more basic use of

language to more complex uses.• Encourage sharing and co-operation• Could form a graded sequence of speaking

activities for pupils working in groups• Can be combined.

Seven Activities

1. Listing: list the names of things they can see or remember in a picture.

2. Ordering and sorting: classify items according to category (e.g. big or small animals or put actions into sequence)

3. Matching: find pairs of similar things, or match pictures to words or numbers

4. Comparing: find what is similar and what is different in two stories or pictures.

Seven activities continued

5. Predicting and problem-solving:• Say what will happen in a story• Decide what to do if you loser your purse• Decide what to do if you find something

6. Sharing personal experiences: speak about themselves and say what they like and dislike.

7. Creative work: do projects on chosen topics or retell stories and make up endings.

As a teacher you can• speak a lot of English and repeat students’ words

or phrases when you are answering them.• react to the meaning of what they are trying to say.• encourage them by showing that what they are

saying is more important than your correction.• wait until they finish speaking before you repeat

and rephrase.• show your approval for all your pupils’ speaking-

however short it may be.• provide activities that are fun and that have a

purpose or goal, and that have an end-product that they can feel proud of.