Uber Teacher Module Seven Speaking

8/2/2019 Uber Teacher Module Seven Speaking

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Training Seven: Speaking, Topic vs Task

It is generally understood that most peoplelearn a language for the principal purpose ofbeing able to speak it. In fact when you think

about it, what do we call people with a highproficiency in the language? Speakers, we rarelyboast about our abilities as great Spanishreaders or French listeners.

This then is the goal and also the frustration forthe majority of students who come to the classesat Pagoda, they want to be able to communicatein English and this is a long and difficult road.First of all they are learning it in a country whereEnglish is not widely spoken and are limited tothe classroom and secondly they will be

instructed by a native speaker whom they aredesperate to impress as he or she will hear every

one of their mistakes.Since along with listening speaking is a major form of communication it

naturally becomes a large focus for the students and the one that they oftentell us they are determined to improve in as quickly as possible. However allspeaking activities in the PIP classroom need to follow a particular structure tobe sure that we make the most of them. Too often teachers allow the speakingelements of the class to become too much free talking without a clear emphasison skill. This is a problem for the students who hope to raise their level so thatthey can study or spend time in a native speaking country, they need to betaught appropriate and natural language in a structured environment.People can study many parts of the language at home but when they come to

the native teacher classroom this is where they must now rely solely on thelanguage and practice it with a definite aim. Practice is the key element to alloral activity and without it new concepts and language are quickly forgotten ormistakes become fossilized. A good teacher provides each class with a lot oftime spent trying out and perfecting comments with regular, constructivefeedback. In this unit we will be looking at how best to approach the art ofspeaking in the classroom.

Don't speak, unless you can improve upon thesilence Spanish Proverb


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The Key Ingredients

The biggest mistake most teachers make in the classroom is failing to organize the speakingactivities.

SLE is a conversation-based program, it is designed to increase the students' confidence,ability and fluency in English speaking.

Many teachers regard SLE as a free talking class and this is where the problem begins; free-talking is wonderful for those who already have the confidence, ability and fluency to sothis. Everyone else needs to be taught!

There is a dreadful, ugly rumour that has been spread around by the evil troll professor

Baby-Eater BoneCrushingson ;

A conversation class isn't like real teaching, awoooooooooooooooooo!

Baby-Eater is very wrong on this point, every class that a student signs up for at

Pagoda is a real class, is important, requires goals and needs good nay great teaching.

Speaking Activity Recipes

Target Language:

Every activity that features in the SLE books is designed to practice certain language, aspart of your lesson planning you should have identified what it is you want the students tobe able to do. What vocabulary and structures do they need in order to complete theactivity? Has this already been taught or is it new to the students? How will I ensure theyare using the correct language? Have I modeled or given an example to the students?

Participation:

The activity needs to be organized in a sufficient enough way that every student has the opportunity

to participate. Usually this means ensuring we allow students to work in pairs/small groups toexchange ideas. We always have to deal with different personalities, should we mix the groups upfrom time to time, perhaps I need to vary the task to make sure everybody contributes something.How much time do they have?

Feedback:

Speaking activities are essential to know how well the students are doing in a class what are theystrong in? What do they need to improve upon in future? Students also need to know how they aredoing, can they be understood? This information and reinforcement can only come from the teacherand should be a regular part of the class.


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Example Speaking Activities seen in the classroom

SLE 1B Feelings and Emotions; Funny Face

Teacher: You can see on the page many faces, so tell me how they arefeeling and why? Tell your partner if you want.(silence) Go on, together...

Student: erm.......number one? He exciting.

Teacher: ok why?

Student: Maybe...happy?

SLE 2BIn My Opinion; What is your opinion on....

Teacher: Ok so here you are going to read the statement and then saywhether you agree or disagree with the statement. OK? So

I'll do the first one, Children should always listen to their parents,I disagree because parents are not always correct. Ok so with yourpartner you have 10 minutes to do the other 21........

Student: (silence...shuffle) Oh, together? Ahh ok I disagree,Student2: me too..ok next

Teacher: no, no you have to say why!

SLE 3BBuying Beauty; Made to Order

`Teacher: So all over Seoul we can see plastic surgery clinics everywhere and now somany people are having jobs done on themselves. Did you know that Korea now has thelargest percentage of people having procedures in the world which is absolutely

incredible. So in this activity you are going to discuss which of the surgeries you would and

wouldn't have and why? Be honest, have you had any work done? Maybe your friends have ok, so ingroups of 3 off you go.

Student One:(with an obvious nose job) I think it's people's choice if they have.Student Two: Ahh you have had I think?Student One: No, no, please this is personal question.Student Three: I think it is very wrong to have surgery, god does not like us to do it.Student Four: I would have liposuction because it is easier than dieting.Student Three: I agree.Student One: I want to talk about something else!

All of the above are quite typical of what we see in SLE classrooms, let's critique them.


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Critique

Activity One: This is a low-level class, the book presents the student with visuals to help themwhich would be very necessary at this level. The teacher has already taught the vocabulary it seems

but not the language needed to successfully complete the task. Without any modeling of thelanguage or a clear example to follow the students would find this activity difficult to meaningfullycomplete. It would be better to make the activity simpler by teaching the students how to givereasons (because/as/maybe..etc) with a few examples first and allow the students to practice makingcorrect sentences. The teacher should also be clear about pair work and not give the choice.Activity Two: The second activity is at a more intermediate level and therefore the teacher canexpect a much better developed vocabulary and grammar. It's helpful that the teacher gives anexample sentence for the students to follow although this would have been much more effective

written on the board for the students to follow. Also the aim of the activity has to be establishedwhich is to practice agreeing/disgreeing and giving an opinion not simply getting through the (21)

points as quickly as possible.Activity Three: The teacher here introduces the topic of the activity and some background to whathe wants the students to think about. However the actual task of the activity doesn't really match hisopening, he seems to be giving statistics and his own opinions about cosmetic surgery but wants thestudents to discuss what they would have done. There is no real focus then on any particularlanguage and in fact a raw nerve is hit between the students when they begin to discuss opinionsinstead of desire. This can lead to friction and might mean the topic is not suitable for the class.

A well-organized speaking activity

SLE 3A School Days Whatever happened to...?

The focus of this activity is to have students reminisce about thepeople from their school days and to speculate what they might be doing now.

For example;

The person you envied most, The person you had a crush on, The funniest person etc

Organization: The students will initially work alone for just 2 minutes to choose 5 people fromthe list to talk about. The list contains 17 suggestions but the teacher feels this is too

many for his class. Once the students have chosen they must discuss their choiceswith their partners who will then ask follow up questions. Each student should

present for 2 3 minutes and then switch partners.Target Language: As well as using the language points (bully, crush, fraternity etc) students

must also speculate on people using the structures May/might be / May/mighthave + past participlethe teacher has introduced this and will listen for correctingusage.

Feedback: The teacher will monitor the activity to check target language being used and tohelp students with difficulties. The I will call on two or three pairs to give example

answers for all to hear. Mistakes will be written on the board and the correctedas a class.

Topic Vs Task (example speaking activities)


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The SLE books have two main types of activity, both designed to get the students speaking as muchas possible at all levels. It is important to find out which type of activity works best with your

students and to try to vary them over the month to keep the classes fresh and interesting.

Number One: Topic; Discuss the following statement with your partner(s) do you agree or

disagree? What are you reasons?

The recent riots in London show the extent to which moral decay has set in in modernsociety. A lack of discipline and respect for authority, not anti-capitalism, was the main cause of

the unrestMichael Smackerchops - Editor of the Guardian.

Number Two: Task; The following is a list of people arrested during the London riots, eachincident and excuse/alibi is given, Do you believe each one or should they bepunished? A list of possible punishments is on the right hand side.

Name & Crime Excuse/Alibi Prison Sentence

Fine of $10, $50 or $100

Community Service (e.g pickingup trash etc)

Electronic Tagging & Curfew

Public Humiliation

Acquittal. Good behavior Classes

Public Apology

Deportation

Suspended Sentence

Execution by Nibbling

Psycho Jones (21) stole8 Samsung laptops from anElectronics' superstore.

He needed a laptop to send anemail to the police about therioting, wasn't sure which onewould work.

Doreen Wilkins (65) Hit

a policeman with herumbrella.

She claimed the policeman

knocked her husband to the groundand stepped on his hand.

Mohammed Naq (34) Hit 3 men with a cricket

bat.

He says they broke into his shopand he was only defending himselfand his business.

Sarah McMilland (42) Led a group of protestorsinto the Houses ofParliament, many of whomattacked M.P's.

She was only intending to confrontthe politicians about their policies.The people who attacked were aminority and not connected to her.

Leticia LaToya (16) Stole $12 worth of plastic

jewelery.

Everyone else was doing it and it'sonly plastic man!

The topic based activity relies on a good level of English and the interest to discuss the topic.

The second requires students to use speaking to complete the task which in itself is more

interesting, involved and easier as the students react to the smaller idea. To make it more

challenging you could tell the students that they must agree on the sentences for which they

would need some expressions of persuasion. You can easily adapt any topic into task and task

into topic with a little creativity and lesson planning.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid them


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1.The Hey Presto! - So what do we think about what's going on in North

Korea then? Do you think he'll stay or go? What's the future

for the Koreas? Anyone?

Many teachers expect far too much from their students ability to express themselves in English andoften without any kind of preparation. Don't get into the habit of expecting your students to be ableto improvise complete and complex sentences, allow them to work together or write down someanswers before sharing with the class.

2. The all-inclusive Let's look at number one; who can tell me why more people go to Paristhan any other city? What's so wonderful about Paris? Give me some

ideas.

Student One: Beautiful. Very good, it's beautiful, what else?Student One: Romantic Yes, it's also romantic, what else?

Student One: It's French. Yes, it's French, good moving on...The problem here is the use of all class questions. The teacher hoped that perhaps a shortdiscussion on the allure of Paris would happen but instead got just one student shouting out his ideasand only single words at that. Better again to set and answer expectation using the stronger studentand then have them work together to come up with some ideas and then share them with the class.This way more people will have the chance to participate.

3. The Murky Pool - With your partner do the activity on page 28. (8 mins later) OK guys

now do the activity on page 29, same partners. (11 mins later) OK we

have 7 minutes left do some discussion questions on page 30.

There is no organization to the activities, the teacher is simply directing what is happening in the

lesson with no thought to whether or not the students practice anything meaningful or indeed learnanything other than the teacher appears disinterested in them. The teacher must model the languageneeded to complete the activity, encourage use of target language and monitor and provide feedbackfollowing the activity to keep it a lesson with an aim. Students must at all times feel that the teacheris helping them to build confidence and competence in English conversation.

4. The mummy! Mummy! Look at me! - So in this activity we're talking about culture

shock. Since arriving in Korea, I've been amazed at how

many strange customs I have seen! Well, I mean strange to me not to

you. Last week I was taking the subway when an old lady came up and

began to touch my hair, wow I was completely freaked out but I didn'tsay anything, anyway she kept saying something and I couldn't wait to

get to my stop. I was telling my friend and she was like oh my god!

anyway why did she do that? No idea? huh freaky!

While you are, of course, an interesting person with many wonderful experiences that your studentsmay genuinely be interested in hearing about be sure that speaking activities don't become all aboutyou. Teacher's should lead the presentations and lessons but not the conversation activities as youshould already have a good level of English and therefore need the least practice. Have a briefexample and then let them talk!


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Pronunciation

How important is pronunciation?

Is English pronunciation difficult?

What is 'correct' pronunciation?

D 'ya Ken Me ?

Learning good pronunciation is essential in anylanguage. The majority of students want to becomefluent in a language and perfect grammar and anencyclopedic knowledge of vocabulary will nothelp them when faced with a native speaker whocannot understand anything they are saying.

English pronunciation is ridiculous, it follows very few standard rules and is not in anywayphonetic ai wud kwait laik a cop ov wartaevery word must be taught.

Ah, snobs and pedants flee the room. Despite the preference for certain accents the only actualdefinition of 'correct' pronunciation is that which can be understood by another native speakerwhether he be from the frozen wilds of Sasquatchvilleburg or the elegant tea rooms of Galway.

Let's start at the very beginning....

Like all languages the first thing you learn are your ABC's:

A as in day clay man car about dare

O as in go hope gone hot now cow

I as in high sigh sir bird hit sit

What an uncooperative alphabet. Well let's try our old friends the consonants

G as in giant gym gentle gadget giggle

C as in cease cent circus cat car

X as in Axe Texas Rex Xylophone

So, it should be clear that simply knowing how to pronounce the alphabet is not always going

to help you pronounce the words.


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Sounds in CombinationIt is important to remember that most of your students are Korean and have enjoyed the pleasures of

a largely phonetic language. Vocabulary can be studied and built upon fairly easily. English is a vastlanguage of vocabulary and even words that look similar will be pronounced quite differently.

Through Though Thought Threw

Daughter Laughter Draught Naughty

Here Heard Heart

Short vs Long Vowel Sounds

The cause of some embarrassing or at best confusing moments for many students, when vowelsshould be stressed or kept short.

Sit /Seat Chip/Cheap Ship/Sheep Bit/Beat

Cart Cat Cut

walk work would

Minimal Pairs

Often in English there can be a very subtle difference between two sounds that although clear tonative speakers can cause difficulties for foreign students.For example: ai (May) ei (My)

She thinks she's going today to die

I don't want a pie to pay

My house is at the end of the line the lane

I didn't like the white the wait

It covers a big lake Washington like WashingtonAccentsThanks to movies and TV very few native speakers are unaware of how different our accents can beand although we have occasional difficulties for the largest part we can understand one another. For

your students this multitude of accents can be challenging, especially if they have only ever beenexposed to one type of accent, it can be useful to bring to the classroom examples of differentaccents. You can never be expected to know all the variations but a little understanding of the twomajor schools (British & American) can be helpful, for example:

The rhotic R sound Car vs Car

The plosive/semi plosive D/T water vs water

Irregular vowels saw vs saw can vs can'tPlosives and Semi-Plosives

These are the consonant sounds that require air to sound them correctly, put your hand in front ofyour mouth as you say them, then try not to use air, notice how different the sounds are.

Top Blunt Dreamt Put But Can


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General ProblemsRhythm

Every language has its own style and pace when spoken, in

English this affects the linking words such as in the followingsentence;

Anne of Green Gablesgrates the cheese.Prepositions and conjunctions are weaker.

This also follows with stressed and unstressed syllables ;

Teacher Station Football Pagoda

Elision

A sound is missed out word the word for ease of pronunciatione.g correct comfortable

vegetable temperatureAssimilation

A sound changes due to the sound that follows e.g. sandwich lightblueHomophones

Words that sound the same but can be spelled differently and have different meanings.

Saw / saw/ sore / soar * Wore / war court / caught blew / blue(item) (past tense)(pain) (to fly)

Intonation

Like all Germanic languages, English relies a lot on stress and intonation to convey certainmeanings, all of which can be confusing to English learners, Try out the following examples;

Hello to a friend.

To a friend you haven't seen for 3 years.

To a neighbour that you don't like.

To a 6 month old baby.

To someone you have just found doing something they shouldn't.

To someone on the phone when you're not sure if they're still there.

How are you? to someone you haven't seen for 20 years.

To someone who has recently lost a member of their family.

To someone who didn't sleep in their own bed last night

To a friend you had a big fight and falling out with.

When the English tongue we speak, why is break not rhymed with weak?

Won't you tell me why it's true, we say sew but also few?

And the maker of a verse cannot rhyme his horse with worse?

Beard is not the same as heard, cord is different from word.

Cow is cow, but low is low, Shoe is never rhymed with foe.

Think of hose and dose and lose, and think of goose and yet of choose.

Think of comb and tomb and bomb, doll and roll and home and some.

And since pay is rhymed with say, why not paid with said I pray?

Think of blood and food and good, mould is not pronounced like could.

Why is it done, but gone and lone, is there any reason known?

To sum up it seems to me, that English is a travesty!


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Happy teaching!

Documents

Uber Teacher Module Seven Speaking