How to Reinforce Speaking

Question

Hello all,I would be grateful for any hints or ideas on the following:Given: a group of students trying to master speaking skills to pass CPE/IELTS (at least 7,5). In general, the classroom activities are of two types: doing either exam tasks with strict timing or freer thematic discussion with long-run talks. Surprisingly enough (or, probably not surprisingly at all) Vocabulary appears to be the main stumbling block. While their passive knowledge is extensive and in 90% they easily pick up new words, the language they use in the final tasks does not seem to be improving that fast. Most of them complain that while speaking they cannot remember anything at all, as if spontaneously they could not use the new language at will. Even if that is only partly true, it is still very frustrating. Assuming, it takes a quite while to acquire a natural command of the language, what else can be done? Any particular types of activities/ course books/ whatever would be highly appreciated.Thanks in advance.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

I find that students make good progress (though it is slow in any case) by being distracted from the language itself and becoming involved in the topic of discussion, in the desire to communicate without thinking to worry so much how they do so. One of my most successful materials I create each Sunday morning over breakfast. I clip news and general interest photos (the photos only!) from the Sunday newspaper, paste them to an A4 sheet, distribute copies to the students and I have them tell me the news (which on Sunday is usually the news of the past week).

It is important to select popular items, the news items that they are familiar with: it should not seem like a quiz. With this material, I gain several advantages: the students are distracted from the language per se by the focus on communicating what they have recently learned from the news; they relax; the topics are both current and varied, so that a good range of vocabulary is brought into play; new vocabulary can be introduced ad hoc as it is needed by the student, no more and no less; and current events lead easily into broadened discussion as interest permits. Surprisingly, this material also works very well at all levels of ability; at first I was hesitant to use it with beginners, but I discovered that if I am sensitive to their limits, discussion can be generated even at that level.

The only drawback I have met is when the student is one of those people who never read the paper and never listen to the news. Then we're stuck!

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks a lot for your response. Your idea of using newspaper pictures is brilliant, I will definitely try it with other levels. Regarding this particular group, probably I should have made it clear from the very beginning that most of them are teachers. On the one hand, it means their general level is rather high and the main aim of the course was just to make their language a bit more sophisticated and to refresh collaboration skills. On the other hand, the chance to distract them from the language matters is fairly slim - it's runs in the profession I think, especially with the exam in mind. Overall, the things are not bad, apart from the progress which is fairly very slow if not lacking at all.

I did some research on-line and it turned out that there is very little material relevant to teaching advanced students (C1-C2 and higher). Very few coursebooks are challenging enough. Indeed, the best way of mastering vocabulary skills is listening to daily news and reading feature articles, but then again comes the question of narrowing the gap between the passive and active knowledge. I don't know what else I can rely on if not on time and practice which makes perfect but this can be pretty boring at times.

Mister Micawber · Answer

I don't know what else I can rely on if not on time and practice which makes perfect but this can be pretty boring at times.-- This is the Great Truth that most teachers recognize but few are willing to accept. The be-all and end-all of the teacher's role is to NOT make it boring.

Anonymous · Answer

Mister Micawber The be-all and end-all of the teacher's role is to NOT make it boring.

Absolutely. Nothing could be worse than being bored or boring no matter what activity or job it is. Boredom is the precise opposite of creativity and creativity is just life in general.

What I am trying to understand is what else apart from time and general practice might help reinforce vocabulary skills. Why, for example, there are the-so-called 'speaking days' when students can easily dwell on virtually any topic and 'mute days' when even the brightest are struggling with simple structures? Clearly, it's more about psychology but still there might be some tips about how to cope with that - some rhetorical devices probably.

ps We have just discussed news in pictures from BBC - they have a special news-in-pictures page. A very positive result with lots of guessing, comparing, reminiscing, so thanks once again.

How to Reinforce Speaking

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