Ministry of Education and Training VTTN vttn Workshop THAI NGUYEN AUGUST 2008 DAY ONE 8.00 – 9.30 1.Opening ceremony Warmer Introductions Course outline -What is speaking? DAY TWO 5 Controlled to free(r) speaking activities DAY THREE DAY FOUR 9 Speaking activities to use in the Language Focus lesson 13 Peer Teaching BC trainer /all trainers 10 Pronunciation BC trainer 14 Peer Teaching BC trainer/all trainers 11 Focus on Tieng Anh -analyse speaking lessons -adapting and exploiting lessons to take into account student ability/interest/need 15 Review Workshop evaluation Certificates Closing ceremony for final VTTN workshop 9.30 – 9.50 9.50 – 11.00 2 6 Motivation Problems in teachin g speaking and sugg ested solutions 11.00 – 13.30 13.30 – 15.00 3 7 Demonstrations Classroom Experi of speaking ences DVD activities - observation task an d reflection 15.00-15.20 15.20 – 16.30 4 What makes a good speaking lesson? Group guideline buil ding 8 Evaluating, correcting and giving feedback to students on their speaking skills 12 Lesson Planning What is speaking? What inputs/skills/knowledge do students need in order to speak in English? Suitable topic skills inputs knowledge Suggestion: Inputs: interesting topic, ideas and questions to respond to, teacher’s and students’ enthusiasm, personal experiences, listenings, readings, short video clips, memories etc Skills: ability to pronounce clearly, ability to organise and develop ideas in real time, being able to produce chunks (phrases), being able to ask for clarification, being able to check understanding Knowledge: knowledge of grammar systems, knowledge of appropriate language to use, knowledge of suitable exchange patterns to use, knowledge of phonology, knowledge of topic, awareness of what your speaking partner knows and is interested in… What is our aim in speaking? A To say sentences without making mistakes? B To communicate with others in English? What is speaking? 1 What level of quality of speaking should we expect from our students? Why? 2 How is speaking different to writing? Why? 3 What roles does the teacher have in a speaking lesson? Why? VTTN Problems in teaching speaking and suggested solutions THAI NGUYEN AUGUST 2008 Characteristics of speaking that cause our students to have problems • • • • • the need to operate in real time the unpredictability of most speaking events how information or meaning is conveyed ( structure, phonology) the ability to listen effectively Problems: (See handout) Possible solutions: 1.Too much time pressure can negatively affect a speaking activity You need to make sure that the time you set for a speaking activity is realistic and allows students thinking and planning time Ensure the tasks are clear, focused and meaningful for the students 2 Don’t ask students to do a speaking activity that you know won’t interest them – even if it is in the textbook! Try to personalise speaking as much as possible This makes it real and motivates students to want to communicate Problems: (See handout) Possible solutions: 3 How you group the students needs careful consideration Don’t be afraid to move students around Think about allocating roles in an activity which will give all students a role and therefore a reason to speak 4 During speaking classes, ensure that students have the opportunity to develop conversation skills/strategies as well as simply practice speaking Set up an activity carefully so that students know the language and strategies to complete the task successfully Evaluation, correction and giving feedback Some ways of managing correction Method Comments Give no correction The error may not be important It may be too difficult I may be distraction to focus on it Repeating - repeat the error that the student made It allows the student to self-correct which requires the student to think more Echoing – repeat the error, but use a questioning intonation It is like ‘repeating’ but the intonation helps the student to know the problem area Direct correction – simply say the correct form/word Saves time, but probably the student won’t have thought about the error and may not have noticed what they did wrong or know why they Evaluation, correction and giving feedback Some ways of managing correction Denial – tell the student that their words were incorrect It can be demotivating, and embarrassing for the students Questioning – Ask the student if they were correct Makes the students think carefully about what they said Facial expression – Use facial expressions to highlight the error Praise – Let the student know what they have done well They may have something wrong, but they have probably done a lot right, too Building confidence is very important Reformulate – Repeat It is a quick method, but the student may what the student said, but have too much to think about to take in say it correctly the correct version and learn from the mistake Evaluation, correction and giving feedback Some ways of managing correction Write the error on the board later for students to correct The flow of the lesson is not stopped The connection between the error and the student is not made, so it is less threatening for the students The students are given time to think about the errors and are likely to learn from them … - Work in pairs -Discus the the advantages and disadvantages of those methods above - You have 5 minutes Evaluation, correction and giving feedback Some ways of managing correction Evaluation of speaking skills – Why? Evaluation, correction and giving feedback Some ways of managing correction Evaluation of speaking skills – Why? When can we evaluate students? What evaluations categories can we use? 1 The number of: •Grammar errors •Pronunciation errors •Vocabulary errors 2 A mark out of 5 for: •Pronunciation •Grammar range/accuracy •Vocabulary range/accuracy •Fluency 3 A mark out of 10 plus a list of: •Good points •Bad points 4 A mark out of 5 for: •Interest of content •Use of English 5 A mark out of 5 for: •Accuracy •Fluency •Complexity VTTN Speaking activities to use in the Language Focus lesson THAI NGUYEN AUGUST 2008 Speaking activities to use in the Language Focus lesson I Warmer: ed/ing adjectives speaking activity - Work in groups - take turns to take a card - describe either: + Something that is ‘… …ing’ + Something that makes them feel ‘…….ed’ - Other must guess the correct form of the adjective E.g ‘Lying on a beach doing nothing is this word, or relaxing chatting with friends is this word etc… ’ - You have 15 minutes Speaking activities to use in the Language Focus lesson I Introduction – ‘Why’ and ‘How’ discussion - Work in groups - Discuss these questions: + “Why should speaking activities be integrated into other skills lessons?” + “How do you integrate speaking with other skills?” -You have 7 minutes Speaking activities to use in the Language Focus lesson I Introduction – ‘Why’ and ‘How’ discussion + “Why should speaking activities be integrated into other skills lessons?”  There is no speaking without listening  Reading and listening often provide the context or starting point for speaking  Some speaking activities are ways of practising grammar  Writing is often a fist-step before speaking as it allows more thinking time and it is easier to help with accuracy  Integrating with other skills in more like real life  Integrating with other skills in more interesting Speaking activities to use in the Language Focus lesson I Introduction – ‘Why’ and ‘How’ discussion II Practice - Work in groups - Choose one of Language Focus lessons on Student’s Textbook -Think of speaking activities you can do on that lesson - Write them down on your Flipchart -You have 20 minutes Pronunciation VTTN THAI NGUYEN AUGUST 2008 Warmer Stand up stress The qualities of stress What are the qualities of stress? Syllables are: • Louder • Longer • Different in pitch (usually higher) • The sounds are more clearly spoken • Accompanied by larger jaw, lip and other facial movements The qualities of stress Ways of marking stress Underlining syllables and double underlining stressed syllables Clear and visual Using boxes to represent the syllables – the stressed syllable being bigger Very clear Put a mark above the stressed syllable Quick, but the students may clearly know how many syllables in the word The qualities of stress Ways of marking stress Hum Stress Finger technique Telephone number technique ... _ w (4) Types of controlled and free(r) practice activities - Work in groups - Make a list of types of controlled and free activities - You have minutes Types of controlled and free(r) practice... knowledge of appropriate language to use, knowledge of suitable exchange patterns to use, knowledge of phonology, knowledge of topic, awareness of what your speaking partner knows and is interested... not for accuracy of language Give students plenty of planning time Make speaking a part of most of your lessons so that students become more fluent over time Problems: (See handout) Possible