“USE EFFECTIVE ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH LEARNERS’ SPEAKING SKILLS”

Semey2024

AZIMBAYEVA BALZHAN

ALINA AINUR

What teachers need to know once they know that they will be teaching an online class or a real classroom:

• What is the most frequent learning goals?

• What type of skills should be provided before speaking?

• What sorts of questions or tasks are used for each level?

• How many main types of speaking are there?

• How much time is allowed for each task?

• What are the assessment criteria for each task type?

• How are the tasks marked?

• How are the results presented?

How many main types of speaking are there?

There are three types of speaking: talk as interaction which serves a social purpose like chatting: talk as transaction which focuses on giving and receiving information like asking direction and talk as perfomance which transmits information to an audience like speeches.

There are lots of activities for group lessons such as games, roleplays. But if a teacher works one-on-one online or in a real classroom mode the choice is not so various and a bit limited. Individual classes are very popular with adults who are very busy to commute to class or want more personalized attitude. In addition, what is the most frequent learning goal? Of course, speaking. Adults want to be able to talk. We all know that is impossible without other skills and subskills such as listening, reading, grammar and vocabulary. So in this reference brochure you can find some speaking tasks which are suitable for any level and almost any topic. You know your students better and can adaptate these activities to make them more effective and interesting. The advantage of these tasks is that they allow to activate target grammar and vocabulary in an engaging way. We suggest using them after some controlled practice or as revision activities.

Contents

1. Do you know someone who

2. Two truths, one lie

3. Guess my answer

4. Celebrity interviews

5. Memory test

6. Wheel of fortune

7. Voice -over

8. Use the words

9. Assosiations

10. A reason why

11. Yes, but

12. Quotes

13. Webprojects

14. What the connection

15. Find similiarities between us

Successful speaking activities

Tips for teachers on what makes a speaking activity successful.

Read the tips about what makes a speaking activity successful and give your own ideas below.

1. Choose the right topic A bit obvious this one! Of course learners will be more motivated to participate in an activity which they are interested in and which relates to their lives or experience.

2. Be specific Speaking activities with a clear communicative goal work best. For example, ‘Tell your partner what you did at the weekend and find one thing you have in common’ gives learners a specific task and an end goal so that they know when they have achieved it. Vague activities like ‘Talk about things you like’ can leave learners wondering what a teacher wants.

3. Give support and preparation time Sometimes, a speaking activity falls flat because learners simply don’t feel ready to speak. Make sure they have the language they need and give them a bit of time to prepare. This could be time to read instructions for a role play for example. Making notes can help, but writing a speech interferes with fluency.

4. Allow learners to work together If learners talk in pairs or groups, they get much more speaking practice than when you are asking questions to one learner at a time. You could demonstrate the speaking activity with a strong learner first, to make sure that learners are clear about what you want them to do.

5. Provide a clear purpose Activities where learners have to exchange information in order to complete an activity provide a real reason for speaking. These are sometimes known as ‘information gap’ activities. This could be a simple question and answer activity, or something more complex like a group activity where learners have different information which they have to share in order to solve a puzzle.

• Do you have any other suggestions for criteria for successful speaking activities?

• Which activities do you use to motivate your learners?

• Why do they motivate your learners

Thank you for reading these brucheres! We hope you can find many inspirational ideas for your lessons. I wish you to be creative and motivated teachers!