Group discussion skills

Amy Lightfoot, British Council, India

Group discussions occur in many different formats – from very informal ones between friends to highly
structured and challenging discussions included as part of a selection process. In both cases, there are a
number of specific skills that we can help our students develop to become better able to contribute
effectively to group discussions.

 Why teach group discussion skills

 Types of discussion
 Useful sub-skills for students
 Setting up group discussions
 Giving and encouraging feedback
 Conclusion

Why teach group discussion skills

Developing group discussion skills is useful for everyday life as we regularly find ourselves having
discussions amongst friends, family and colleagues. These may vary from very informal chats about day-to-
day things, to more serious topics, for example a discussion about a recent new story or a problem that
needs to be solved.

 Additionally, group discussions are increasingly being used in the job market during interviews and
selection procedures. These can take a variety of formats, but the key skills remain very similar.
 Last but not least, group discussions offer an opportunity for extended speaking (and listening!)
practice by all of the contributors. Group discussion practice and skill development is therefore
useful for all students.

Types of discussion
There are a variety of different types of discussions that occur naturally and which we can recreate in the
classroom. These include discussions where the participants have to:

 Make decisions (e.g. decide who to invite to a party and where to seat them)
 Give and / or share their opinions on a given topic (e.g. discussing beliefs about the
effectiveness of capital punishment)
 Create something (e.g. plan and make a poster as a medium for feedback on a language course)
 Solve a problem (e.g. discussing the situations behind a series of logic problems)

Some discussion topics may fall into more than one of these categories, but it is useful to consider a variety
of formats to which the students can apply the skills they are learning.

Useful sub-skills for students

There are a number of different sub-skills which students will need to be able to successfully and effectively
participate in a group discussion. Students need to develop the ability to:

 Analyse
This skill can be developed by giving students the topic individually and asking them to brainstorm
or mind-map all of the possible sub-topics they could speak about. The students can then swap
their notes and assess or analyse the relevance of each of the sub-topics their partner has
included. Together, the students then draw up a fresh list or mind-map and discuss how the sub-
topics might be linked together, along with examples or reasons for any arguments they might
have.
 Persuade
This skill comes in useful when students need to make decisions on how to do something (e.g.
which candidate should get a job). A fun activity to develop this skill is to give groups of students
this topic and ask them decide on the profile of the perfect candidate, creating a list of 7 adjectives.
The students are then re-grouped and asked to persuade the other members of the group that their
 selection is the best while compiling a second, negotiated list. The group members who retain the
most from their original lists are the winners. Note down useful phrases that you hear the students
using while doing this task and discuss these at the end for future reference.
 Control emotions
This can be practised by giving the students a fairly controversial topic, such as ‘Friends are more
important than family’ and asking the students to decide whether they agree, disagree or have no
opinion, making notes on their main arguments to support their viewpoint. Divide the students into
groups ensuring that there is a mix of views within each group. Explain that for this discussion, the
aim is to keep their voices low and try to control their emotions as far as possible. Monitor and give
feedback on these areas.
 Support
One of the most important things for this skill is for students to learn when it is and isn’t appropriate
to interrupt and how to do it. Very often students will talk over each other in an effort to get their
point across and forget to listen.

To practice this, you can get your students to make a list in small groups of when it is and isn’t
appropriate to interrupt other speakers. They should include things like ‘not appropriate during the
middle of a point, if the speaker has not said very much previously, or when you are feeling angry
and liable to say something you’ll regret’. It is appropriate when the speaker has been dominating
the discussion for too long, what the speaker is saying is completely irrelevant to the topic, or you
don’t understand the point he / she has made’.

You can then give them or elicit a list of phrases which they might use to interrupt politely (e.g. ‘Can
i just add something here?’, ‘Sorry I ’d just like to clarify something,’ etc.) The students then write
five of these on slips of paper (one per slip) and have a group discussion on a given topic. The aim
is to use all of the language on their slips. When they have used a phrase, they put the slip in the
middle of the table. The other students in the group judge whether the interruption was
appropriate / polite. If not, they take the slip back and try again.
 Use functional language
Depending on the types of group discussions that you plan to do with your class, it is useful to draw
up a list of useful functional language for the students to refer to. This could include phrases for
functions such as ‘Giving reasons’, ‘Giving your opinion’, ‘Agreeing and disagreeing’, etc. You can
either make up the list yourself and distribute it or get the students to do this. For each group
discussion, you can then refer them to the appropriate section of the list and give them a few
moments to consider the language before beginning the discussion.

Setting up group discussions

There are several key things to consider when setting up group discussions in the classroom to ensure that
they run successfully.

 Give the students some planning time either individually or in small groups Don’t just give them
the topic and say ‘go’! It is often useful to discuss some associated vocabulary or functional
language that they might find useful
 Choose topics which you are confident your students will find interesting.
Get them to brainstorm some ideas for discussions they would like to do and use this as a starting
point
 Ensure a balance between input and practice
 Use a variety of styles / types
 Vary group size and procedure
Some companies do selection group discussions with very large groups of people – over ten in
some cases. If your students will be facing these types of group discussions in the future make
sure they get some practice doing them. It can also be useful to mix classes of students so they
have practice doing discussions with people they don’t already know.
 Encourage group discussions outside class time
Give students some extra feedback forms to use to give each other input on how they perform in
group discussions outside of class.

Giving and encouraging feedback

Feedback can take several forms and it is a good idea to vary the way it is given. Students can observe
each other doing group discussions and give each other feedback on the specific areas of input that you
have covered (ideally using a feedback form that you have created).

 Additionally, students can do a ‘Reflective group feedback exercise’ where at the end of the group
discussion they discuss how effective each of the participants was during the discussion. Again,
giving them some focused questions to guide this stage will help them.
 You could also try video-taping the group discussions and playing sections of these back to the
class to analyse. Some students find this extremely useful.
 Finally, monitor the groups yourself and make notes for feedback on whole groups or individual
performances. Keeping a record of these will help you and the students to see where they have
improved.

Conclusion
As we have seen, group discussions can take a variety of formats and are useful for all types of students.
They can be done in preparation for job interviews or as extended speaking practice simply to increase
fluency.

It is important to consider the different sub-skills that are involved in participating in a group discussion and
ensure that you do activities that address each of these. Additionally, structuring and varying the way that
feedback is given will help the students to identify areas for improvement.

Public speaking skills

Amy Lightfoot, British Council, India

For many people, standing up in public and doing a speech is one of their greatest fears. For many
language students in particular, this is the ultimate challenge. In this article we will look at some ways we
can help intermediate level students to overcome the difficulties involved and explore some techniques for
making their speeches as impressive as possible.

 What is public speaking?

 Why is public speaking useful for students?
 What techniques can we teach our students?
 Common problems and solutions
 Giving and encouraging feedback
 Conclusion

What is public speaking?

Public speaking involves talking in front of a group of people, usually with some preparation. It can be in
front of people that you know (e.g. at a family celebration) or a crowd of strangers. Unlike a presentation
there normally isn’t a lot of opportunity for interaction between the audience and the speaker – the speaker
speaks, and the audience (hopefully) listens.

Speeches have different functions. These include being persuasive (e.g. trying to convince the audience to
vote for you), informative (e.g. speaking about the dangers of climate change), entertaining (e.g. a best
man’s speech at a wedding) or celebratory (e.g. to introduce the winner or an award). Some speeches may
have more than one of these aims.

Why is public speaking useful for students?

Most people, at some point in their life, will need to stand up and speak in front of a group of people.
Teaching students the necessary skills for doing this will therefore help them to do this more successfully.
As a result of the practice, students often report an increase in general confidence as well as a marked
sense of achievement. Many students get incredibly nervous the first time they have to do a speech in front
of their classmates but with practice the nerves subside and they usually begin to enjoy the whole process.

Working on public speaking also helps to develop students’ overall fluency and requires them to consider
how they speak as well as what they say. This is useful for speaking in any situation, public or otherwise.

What techniques can we teach our students?

a) Ideas / content generation

Lots of students find getting started quite difficult. It’s a good idea to give students either a type of public
speech that you would like them to do, or a particular topic. It’s often useful to get students working in
groups at the planning stage, helping each other to come up with ideas.

Showing students a variety of ways of making notes of ideas works well as not everyone likes the same
methods. These could include mind-mapping, making lists or writing ideas on post-it notes and then
arranging them on a piece of paper into groups.

b) Structure
Stress the importance of having a beginning, middle and end and keep reminding them of this. You might
then like to give them a standard introduction to use for their first speech. For example, “Good evening. My
name is x and today I am going to talk about y. I will talk about three main areas, x, y and z’. This then gives
them a focus for the structure of the rest of the speech. It can seem a little dry, however, so once they get
the idea it’s worth experimenting with different styles of beginning – e.g. using jokes and anecdotes.

Many students are so relieved to have got to their end of their speech that they rush the conclusion or
sometimes completely forget to do one. Again, a suggested format may help them to summarise what they
have said.

c) Body language
There are various statistics for how much of our communication is done through our body language – they
seem to hover around 70%, which is a massive chunk, so some work in this area is a very good idea.

 Posture: Doing an activity where you get everyone to stand up and then suddenly ‘freeze’
works well. You then ask everyone to stay still but look around at how everyone is
standing. Then try getting everyone to stand straight and well-centred, behind the podium
if you have one to use. You’ll be surprised how many people rock from side to side or
slouch. Sounds pretty basic but it can make a big difference to how confident and in
control someone appears to be.
 Gestures: One way to practice these is to give out some sentences with key words in
them, such as “I caught a fish and it was this big!” or “there are three important reasons
why you should vote for me”. Ask the students to practise saying these sentences while
standing up and work out what gestures might be the most appropriate. Stress the
importance of keeping gestures controlled.
 Eye contact: It’s very important that speakers make eye contact with all areas of the
room, ideally with every person but with large audiences that isn’t possible. Many students
tend to look at one spot or at the teacher. One way to practice this is to ask each student
to do a short 30 second introduction and then at the end get any student who feels the
speaker did not look in his/her direction to raise their hand.

d) Chunking (pauses and stress)

This is a technique which can help speakers to sound much more confident and increase the overall
effectiveness of their speech. The theory is that when we do this type of speaking we stress the key words in
a sentence which carry the meaning, e.g. “I DON’T want you to just SIT there and DO NOTHING” We also
pause after many of these key words, and at the end of a sentence.
To practice this, try playing your students an example of a speech – Earl Spencer’s eulogy speech for Diana
is a good one for this, or Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’. Ask them to listen and identify the stressed
words and pauses from a small section of the speech and then practice delivering it in the same manner.
They can then mark the stress and pauses on their own speeches and practice incorporating the idea into
their own work. It really makes a difference!

Common problems and solutions

 Lack of confidence
This is very common and one that only practice, practice and more practice will help to overcome.
You could also try getting the students to first speak in front of three or four others, then adding to
the number as they become more confident.

Reminding students to breath properly while they’re speaking as well as thinking positively about
their ability to speak well will also help, along with lots of encouragement!
 Speaking too fast
This is another common one, usually caused by nerves. Try getting them to do the introduction of
the speech in an exaggeratedly slow manner. Once they have done this a few times they may find
it easier to find a middle ground.
 Appropriacy of body language
If this is a problem, try videoing the speaker and asking them to watch themselves. They will
usually be able to identify where the problems lie and then work on improving these areas. Raising
awareness is the most important thing here.
 Boring speeches!
It’s really important to get the students to think carefully about their audience when planning their
speech. For example, if they want to do a speech about the dangers of smoking, but no one in the
class smokes, this probably won’t be very interesting.

Encourage the students to think of creative ideas for their speeches - do the planning stage in class
so that you and the other students can monitor and give advice on topics that look like they might
get a few yawns.
 Appropriacy of style
Here again it is important that the students think about their audience. You might like to play them
several different examples of famous speeches and ask them to comment on the style and discuss
the purpose of the speech and the audience, before reflecting on their own.
 Plagiarism of material
Unfortunately this is a very common problem. One way to tackle this is to ask the students not to
write out their speeches in full but to use only notes or key words to help them deliver their speech.
This then increases the chances of them being more original with the delivery. Another option is to
collect in the speeches and run whole sentences through an internet search engine to see if it
comes up with anything. And of course, impress upon your students the importance of doing their
own work!

Giving and encouraging feedback

This is a very important part of the process and can take three general forms:

1. Peer
2. From the teacher
3. Video-taping and playback

 For feedback from peers and from the teacher it’s best to choose particular areas to give feedback
on for each speech, rather than trying to cover everything. This might be based on the techniques
you have recently been looking at in class (e.g. using gestures, chunking, structure, etc.) or as a
result of feedback on a previous speech.
  It’s a good idea to go through what you expect of the students when giving peer feedback as
sometimes students can be very vague. Make up a sheet with a (short) list of the areas to look at to
help them focus their comments and encourage them to say positive as well as constructive things.
 Video-taping is an invaluable method of helping students to see where their strengths and
weaknesses lie. The only drawback, apart from the technical side of using the camera, is the time it
takes to do and playback. This can be partially overcome by videoing sections of speeches, rather
than the whole thing for each student.

Conclusion
In this article we have looked at a variety of techniques that can be used to help students develop the
necessary skills for delivering public speeches. Practice in these areas can help to increase your students’
overall confidence and fluency and provide an interesting and useful diversion from regular language work.

This article published: 24th August, 2007

Personalised speaking
David Heathfield, Trainer, Writer, UK

People spend a huge chunk of their everyday conversation time talking about themselves and the people
they know, so the most natural thing in the world is for us to invite our students to do the same. What our
students bring to the learning environment is our richest resource. But if the lives they lead are to be at the
centre of the courses we teach, are we guaranteed that students will talk freely and be interested in what
their fellow classmates tell them? The answer is no. So what are some of the main challenges we face when
doing personalised speaking activities and how can these challenges be met?

 Two main challenges

 Meeting these challenges
o Teacher modelling
o Visualisation
o Setting peer listening tasks
o Sharing classmates’ real-life experiences
 Example activity
 Conclusion

Two main challenges

 Firstly, students might lack confidence in their ability to tell an anecdote, describe their feelings or
confidently give their views in their mother tongue, let alone in English: ‘I don’t know what to say or
how to say it.’
 Secondly, classes are made up of students who are thrown together by circumstance. They do not
choose their classmates and they would not all mix socially if they met outside the class: ‘I don’t
have much in common with that student so why should I listen to her?

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Meeting these challenges

In the classroom our challenge is to create a world in which it feels comfortable and at the same time
stimulating for students to talk about themselves and really listen to each other. One way to achieve this is
by making use of some simple techniques, which help to bring students’ outside worlds alive in the
classroom. The following four techniques are illustrated in the activity ‘Show me your shoes’ as described
below.

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  Teacher modelling
This involves the students observing their teacher doing an achievable task that they themselves
are about to do. Focusing on the teacher reassures students about what is expected of them and
gives them ideas about the kind of content to include. There is an important distinction to be made
between substitution drilling and modelling. We are not asking students to try and repeat back what
we have said. We are instead providing students with a framework. Teacher modelling gives
students confidence and is often more effective than abstract instruction-giving, which can more
easily lead to uncertainty and inadequate task fulfillment.

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 Visualisation
The term visualisation suggests focusing on visual images in the mind’s eye. However, it can
describe imagined auditory, olfactory, tactile and emotional experiences as well. Visualising a
moment, scene or event whether real or imagined is an extremely effective and powerful way in to
extended personal speaking. The time spent on visualisation can lead to more thought-through and
stimulating content from students during the subsequent speaking phase of an activity.

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 Setting peer listening tasks

It is inhibiting for students speaking in pairs and groups when their classmates appear to show little
interest in what they say. Instead of genuinely listening, classmates might be planning their own
speaking turn, referring to the dictionary, thinking about something unrelated to the lesson or
perhaps even just pretending to listen. In the distracting environment of the classroom, it is easy
not to listen actively. While setting up a speaking activity, it is important for teachers to set simple
and interesting peer listening tasks which focus students on what their partners say. This might be
as simple as remembering and reporting part of what they hear, deciding how much is true or
giving their partner advice. When students are genuinely engaged in conversation in the classroom,
there is a real sense of energy and purpose.

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 Sharing classmates’ real-life experiences

Drama techniques can make the difference between simply hearing about another student’s life
and having a real sense of sharing in that student’s life experience. Kinaesthetic involvement on the
part of both speaker and listener through mime and gesture helps bring the exchange alive, as
does imagining being in another place or physically referring to things which are not actually
present.

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Example activity

Show me your shoes

Level: Elementary to Advanced / All ages

Teacher modelling

 Elicit and pre-teach types of footwear (shoes, boots, sandals, trainers, slippers etc) and parts of
footwear (laces, heel, sole etc).
 Remove your shoes and put them at the side of the room. Describe truthfully one of your other
pairs of shoes (or other footwear) while you mime holding and wearing them.
 Let a student mime touching them or even trying them on for a moment.
 Use the prompt questions below to bring your description to life.
 Finally, invite students to guess if your description is true.
Visualisation

 If possible, ask students to remove their shoes and put them away.
 Tell them
“You’re going to describe one of your pairs of shoes or other footwear to someone who
doesn’t know about them. If you don’t have a pair in mind, imagine a pair but remember that
you need to make your description believable. Which ones are you going to describe?”
 Check that every student knows the name of their type of footwear.
 Ask students to close their eyes and to imagine their answers to these prompt questions as you
slowly and clearly ask them:

What kind of shoes have you brought here today?

What size are they?
What do they look like?
What about colour, shade, shape, style?
What are they made of?
What do they feel like to wear?
When do you wear them? Why?
How do they make you feel?
What sounds do they make?
Have they got their own smell?
How did you get them?
How old are they?
What sort of condition are they in?
What do other people say about them?
What do you like best about them?
Is there any kind of problem with them?
Is there an interesting story you can tell?

Peer listening and sharing real life experiences

 Students open their eyes and mime wearing their shoes.

 Say:
“Stand with a student who doesn’t know if these shoes are real or not. Your partner is going
to listen and decide if your shoes are real. Show them your shoes and describe them. You
don’t have to include the answers to all the questions I asked – just tell them what you want
to. Let your partner try on your shoes. When you’ve both finished, ask each other questions
for more information. Don’t say if your description is true or not. OK? You’ve got 5
minutes.”
 As each pair finishes ask them to hold or wear their partner’s shoes and quickly show them to
another student who has finished.
 Form a standing circle. Invite each student to say whose shoes they’re holding and find out if
they’re real, e.g.“I’ve got Juan’s blue trainers he wears for jogging and I think they’re real.” Juan: “I
haven’t really got any trainers”.

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Conclusion
The most important result of regularly using such techniques in the language classroom is an increase in
reciprocal self-disclosure. In other words students tell each other about their thoughts, feelings and
experiences in greater depth and detail. The more one tells, the more the other tells, so leading to deep
interpersonal sharing. It follows that students involve themselves more in each other’s lives, so the
classroom becomes a social meeting place as well as a learning environment. In turn there is a positive
impact on group cohesion and dynamics.

This article published: 4th January, 2007

Further reading

Heathfield, D. 2005 Spontaneous Speaking: Drama Activities for Confidence and Fluency. DELTA
Publishing

Increasing student interaction

Patrick Howarth, Teacher, Trainer, Portugal

I have noticed in many of the classes I have taught that there can be a tendency for the learners to want to
interact with me but less enthusiasm when it comes to interacting with each other. I should emphasize that
this reticence only applies to interaction in English but it does seem to apply to groups of all nationalities,
ages and levels.

 Why student to student interaction is desirable

 Problems we face when trying to increase interaction
 How we can promote an increase in student interaction
 Conclusion

Why student to student interaction is desirable

 Participation
Most people agree that learning anything involves participation. You can't learn to play a musical
instrument without actually picking up the instrument and similarly it is difficult to learn a language
without engaging with that language. Given that language primarily exists to facilitate
communication, interaction in that language must have an important role to play in developing a
learner's ability in that language. In other words, teachers need to promote learner interaction in
order to help the learners succeed.

 Maximising practice time

Learners need to practise as much as possible if they are to be successful. Interaction through pair
and group work maximises the opportunities to practise as more learners speak for more of the
time.
 Collaboration
Collaborative learning, particularly through the use of collaborative tasks, has been shown to foster
language development since learners can see a reason to use language in order to interact.
 Socialisation
Related to the concept of collaboration is that of socialisation. Interaction does not only promote
language development but it also fosters the development of social skills (e.g. politeness, respect
for others) that people need to operate successfully in any culture.
 Motivation
Motivation is a fundamental aspect of successful learning. Interaction gives learners the opportunity
to use language successfully and to measure their progress which in turn should lead to an
increase in motivation.

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Problems we face when trying to increase interaction

Interaction seems so desirable and sensible in theory but we all know that actually promoting and increasing
it can be an uphill struggle. Let's consider some of the reasons for this.

 Student resistance
It is unfortunately true that some learners are not enthusiastic about pair and group work,
particularly in mono-lingual classes in which it is a little unnatural to communicate to someone who
speaks your language in a language you are both less proficient in! I have taught many students
who have told me that they don't like pair work because they might learn mistakes from their
partners. There is actually no evidence to support this worry but it is still common.
  Self-consciousness
I have met many learners who become very nervous and embarrassed when asked to speak
English. As a language learner myself, I sympathise.
 Large classes
While theoretically the more students there are in a class the more possibilities for interaction there
should be, this is not the case in practice. The more learners there are, the more difficult
developing interaction can be since there are more people to monitor and, therefore, more chances
of problems. In addition there is, of course, a greater likelihood of excessive noise which can mask
bad behaviour and use of L1.
 Mixed abilities
Pairing and grouping students appropriately in classes that have a wide variety of levels (e.g.
secondary schools) is much more difficult than in small classes of a homogenous level.
 Lack of motivation
If learners have no need to interact or don't want to, they probably won't.
 Insufficient language
Perhaps the most common reason for interaction in English breaking down, or indeed not starting
in the first place, is that the students don't have the language they need to interact and, therefore,
complete the task successfully.

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How we can promote an increase in student interaction

This section will suggest some solutions to the problems outlined above.

 Teaching process language

This is similar to classroom language but refers to the language that students need to interact.
Examples could include: "What do you have for number 2?", "Do you want to start?", and "Sorry,
can you say that again, please?". I introduce and/or revise before starting tasks and leave them on
the board so the learners can refer to them while speaking. My learners copy them into the vocab
record books too, of course.

 Pre-teaching task language

I try to analyse tasks before using them in order to predict what language is critical to task
achievement. If I think some of this language may be unfamiliar I pre-teach it before the students
do the task. If there is too much language for pre-teaching, I find a more suitable task.
 Providing support
As well as providing language for tasks, where appropriate I try to provide ideas too. These can be
brainstormed before the task and put on the board so that the learners have plenty of things to talk
about.
 Giving preparation time
I have often found that interaction breaks down because the learners haven't had time to think
about what they want to say and how to say it. I plan to give some thinking time before starting a
task during which the students can ask me or each other for support.
 Providing a supportive atmosphere
I try to raise confidence by giving lots of praise and giving feedback on task achievement as well as
language use. When monitoring I try to do so as unobtrusively as possible so the students don't
feel that I'm necessarily listening to them personally. On the other hand in feedback I try to make it
clear to the class that I have been listening to them and through feedback show them that there is a
point to interaction and thereby overcome student resistance.
 Varying the interaction and repeating tasks
When teaching large classes I plan to move students around so that they are not always talking to
the same partner. A good way to do this I have found is by asking the learners to perform the same
task a number of times but each time with a different partner. As well as providing variety of
interaction, this approach also maximises practice of the language being worked on.
 Having different levels of task
With mixed ability classes I prepare an easy, medium, and difficult version of the same task so
students of different levels can interact together at a level appropriate to the language level. For
example, after some listening practice students with different tasks can tell each other what they
have found out.
  Providing a reason to interact
I use tasks that actively provide the learners with a reason to speak and listen. Information gap
activities are a good example of these (and these can be used repetitively if designed carefully) and
students generally enjoy doing them. Using project work is another good example of a motivating
and collaborative approach that promotes both realistic language use and interaction.

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Conclusion
Interaction helps learners develop language learning and social skills and so maximising interaction in the
classroom is an important part of the teacher's role. Interaction will not necessarily happen spontaneously,
however, and in my view it has to be considered before teaching. The approaches suggested above all have
this in common - they require forethought and are, therefore, a part of the lesson planning process.

This article published: 27th September, 2006

Video exchange project

Deborah Bullock, Teacher, British Council, Ukraine

Getting teenagers to speak English can prove a challenge to many teachers. One way is to provide a
context for real and meaningful communication. This article examines how a video exchange project can
stimulate motivation and interest by providing such a context.

 Why an exchange project?

 Context
 Planning
 Preparation
 Filming
 Exchange and follow-up
 Evaluation and tips

Why an exchange project?

Exchange projects offer students many benefits:

 The opportunity for learners to communicate in a real and meaningful way about their interests
 The possibility to promote cross-cultural understanding/tolerance
 The opportunity to use a wide range of skills and language
 A variety of activities which accommodate different learning styles
 A change from 'routine' class work
 An increase in levels of motivation and enthusiasm
 Asense of achievement.

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Context
I was teaching a group of young learners aged 11-14 at upper-intermediate level who were following a
course book. It was a 12-week course and even though I used a lot of supplementary material, after several
weeks they were lacking motivation and enthusiasm. I needed something to 'spice up' the lessons. At
around the same time our centre acquired a video camera and we were encouraged to make use of it. I
decided to experiment with it and came up with the idea of a video exchange project.

Top of page

Planning
The main factors I had to consider when planning the project were:
  Topic
 Audience
 Timing.

My students were Ukrainians and I decided on the general topic 'Aspects of Life in Ukraine'. This way the
students had a framework but also some freedom of choice. We would send the video to other teenagers in
a different country since they would find the content informative and this would promote meaningful
communication. For the video, the students would present their information in pairs and each pair could
speak for 2-4 minutes.

Finally, I worked out that we would need to divide the project into 3 stages; preparation, rehearsal and
performance. This translated into 3 classes. After the exchange we would also need time to watch the other
country's video.

Top of page

Preparation

 Brainstorming
I introduced the idea of the exchange project to the students and told them the general topic. Then
in small groups they brainstormed different aspects of Ukrainian life. I put all these ideas on the
board in the form of a spider gram. Some suggestions were; food and drink, school, entertainment,
music, religion, famous sights, geography, extreme sports. In pairs, students then chose the topic
which interested them most.
 Pair work
Students thought about what they wanted to include in their presentation and made notes using
bullet points / lists. The reason I discouraged writing texts was because I wanted them to speak
naturally and more freely in front of the camera. At this point I monitored the students to make sure
that they didn't include too much information, and I helped with vocabulary. For some topics,
geography for example, the students needed to do some research. However, I discouraged too
much research because I wanted them to talk about what they already knew in their own words.
When they spoke about what they knew they could focus more on delivery.
 Group work
When students had decided on what information to include, they then joined another pair and
shared their ideas. The other pair commented on the content, whether there was too much or too
little, whether it was interesting, if there was anything missing etc. I simply monitored and
encouraged full participation.
 Presentation
In their pairs, students then decided how they would present their information e.g. as a
question/answer session, as a dialogue, simple presentation etc. They then made notes or prompt
cards to remind themselves. I didn't allow them to write full sentences because I wanted the
presentation to be natural.
 Rehearsal
Students then rehearsed in pairs and timed themselves. Then they rehearsed with different pairs
and gave each other feedback. I monitored throughout and noted any hindrances to effective
communication e.g. pronunciation difficulties, intonation, misuse of vocabulary or grammar.
 Props
When the students had rehearsed, they then worked in their pairs to decide on which props they
would use in the filming e.g. flags, pictures, souvenirs, food items, even skateboards! They then
brought these to the next class when we filmed the video.

Top of page

Filming
I set up the video camera in a quiet room prior to the class. I decided against filming in the classroom to
ensure audio quality and clarity. I took one pair at a time to the quiet room and gave them time to make
themselves comfortable and arrange their props. Then I recorded them. I told them that I would only record
them once. If they made a mistake they should just carry on. As a result, the recording didn't take a long
time and the other students in the classroom didn't become too restless. In fact, they had another task to
work on during the recording.

Naturally, the students wanted to watch themselves afterwards but I encouraged them to focus on the
positive aspects.

Top of page

Exchange and follow-up

I then posted the video to the other centre (in Portugal). When I received their video I watched it and
prepared questions for the students. Some questions focussed on factual information e.g. geographical
details and places of interest. Others were designed to raise awareness of similarities and differences
between the two cultures e.g. the education system. Students were then invited to discuss the advantages
and disadvantages of the two systems and voice their opinions.

 After watching the video I hoped that my students would be interested in communicating with the
Portuguese students via e-mail. However, this didn't happen mainly because the other students
were slightly older, but also because their recording quality was not good and it was difficult to
understand what they were saying.

Top of page

Evaluation and tips

On reflection, the exchange project was a success. The students performed well and the project gave them
a sense of achievement. In addition, they gained knowledge of another country and culture. Most notable
was the performance of the boys. In this class the girls usually outperformed the boys. This project gave the
boys an opportunity to excel. However, the project could have been better organised to ensure greater
success. In future I would

 Select an exchange group of the same age and level of English where possible.
 Work closely with the other teacher (this could be via e-mail) e.g. agree on topics together.
 Ensure audio quality and clarity. If the students can't hear or understand each other, they become
frustrated or uninterested.
 Encourage a variety of presentation techniques e.g. interview or role-play and the use of interesting
props (since video is primarily a visual medium).
 Discourage the reading of texts while filming because the students don't look at the camera or use
body language. Similarly, discourage memorisation as this leads to unnatural speech

This article published: 15th December, 2005

If you would like to find a partner school to do an exchange project with we can help. See the Global
Gateway

Video exchange project

Deborah Bullock, Teacher, British Council, Ukraine

Getting teenagers to speak English can prove a challenge to many teachers. One way is to provide a
context for real and meaningful communication. This article examines how a video exchange project can
stimulate motivation and interest by providing such a context.

 Why an exchange project?

 Context
 Planning
 Preparation
 Filming
 Exchange and follow-up
  Evaluation and tips

Why an exchange project?

Exchange projects offer students many benefits:

 The opportunity for learners to communicate in a real and meaningful way about their interests
 The possibility to promote cross-cultural understanding/tolerance
 The opportunity to use a wide range of skills and language
 A variety of activities which accommodate different learning styles
 A change from 'routine' class work
 An increase in levels of motivation and enthusiasm
 Asense of achievement.

Top of page

Context
I was teaching a group of young learners aged 11-14 at upper-intermediate level who were following a
course book. It was a 12-week course and even though I used a lot of supplementary material, after several
weeks they were lacking motivation and enthusiasm. I needed something to 'spice up' the lessons. At
around the same time our centre acquired a video camera and we were encouraged to make use of it. I
decided to experiment with it and came up with the idea of a video exchange project.

Top of page

Planning
The main factors I had to consider when planning the project were:

 Topic
 Audience
 Timing.

My students were Ukrainians and I decided on the general topic 'Aspects of Life in Ukraine'. This way the
students had a framework but also some freedom of choice. We would send the video to other teenagers in
a different country since they would find the content informative and this would promote meaningful
communication. For the video, the students would present their information in pairs and each pair could
speak for 2-4 minutes.

Finally, I worked out that we would need to divide the project into 3 stages; preparation, rehearsal and
performance. This translated into 3 classes. After the exchange we would also need time to watch the other
country's video.

Top of page

Preparation

 Brainstorming
I introduced the idea of the exchange project to the students and told them the general topic. Then
in small groups they brainstormed different aspects of Ukrainian life. I put all these ideas on the
board in the form of a spider gram. Some suggestions were; food and drink, school, entertainment,
music, religion, famous sights, geography, extreme sports. In pairs, students then chose the topic
which interested them most.
 Pair work
Students thought about what they wanted to include in their presentation and made notes using
bullet points / lists. The reason I discouraged writing texts was because I wanted them to speak
naturally and more freely in front of the camera. At this point I monitored the students to make sure
 that they didn't include too much information, and I helped with vocabulary. For some topics,
geography for example, the students needed to do some research. However, I discouraged too
much research because I wanted them to talk about what they already knew in their own words.
When they spoke about what they knew they could focus more on delivery.
 Group work
When students had decided on what information to include, they then joined another pair and
shared their ideas. The other pair commented on the content, whether there was too much or too
little, whether it was interesting, if there was anything missing etc. I simply monitored and
encouraged full participation.
 Presentation
In their pairs, students then decided how they would present their information e.g. as a
question/answer session, as a dialogue, simple presentation etc. They then made notes or prompt
cards to remind themselves. I didn't allow them to write full sentences because I wanted the
presentation to be natural.
 Rehearsal
Students then rehearsed in pairs and timed themselves. Then they rehearsed with different pairs
and gave each other feedback. I monitored throughout and noted any hindrances to effective
communication e.g. pronunciation difficulties, intonation, misuse of vocabulary or grammar.
 Props
When the students had rehearsed, they then worked in their pairs to decide on which props they
would use in the filming e.g. flags, pictures, souvenirs, food items, even skateboards! They then
brought these to the next class when we filmed the video.

Top of page

Filming
I set up the video camera in a quiet room prior to the class. I decided against filming in the classroom to
ensure audio quality and clarity. I took one pair at a time to the quiet room and gave them time to make
themselves comfortable and arrange their props. Then I recorded them. I told them that I would only record
them once. If they made a mistake they should just carry on. As a result, the recording didn't take a long
time and the other students in the classroom didn't become too restless. In fact, they had another task to
work on during the recording.

Naturally, the students wanted to watch themselves afterwards but I encouraged them to focus on the
positive aspects.

Top of page

Exchange and follow-up

I then posted the video to the other centre (in Portugal). When I received their video I watched it and
prepared questions for the students. Some questions focussed on factual information e.g. geographical
details and places of interest. Others were designed to raise awareness of similarities and differences
between the two cultures e.g. the education system. Students were then invited to discuss the advantages
and disadvantages of the two systems and voice their opinions.

 After watching the video I hoped that my students would be interested in communicating with the
Portuguese students via e-mail. However, this didn't happen mainly because the other students
were slightly older, but also because their recording quality was not good and it was difficult to
understand what they were saying.

Top of page

Evaluation and tips

On reflection, the exchange project was a success. The students performed well and the project gave them
a sense of achievement. In addition, they gained knowledge of another country and culture. Most notable
was the performance of the boys. In this class the girls usually outperformed the boys. This project gave the
boys an opportunity to excel. However, the project could have been better organised to ensure greater
success. In future I would
  Select an exchange group of the same age and level of English where possible.
 Work closely with the other teacher (this could be via e-mail) e.g. agree on topics together.
 Ensure audio quality and clarity. If the students can't hear or understand each other, they become
frustrated or uninterested.
 Encourage a variety of presentation techniques e.g. interview or role-play and the use of interesting
props (since video is primarily a visual medium).
 Discourage the reading of texts while filming because the students don't look at the camera or use
body language. Similarly, discourage memorisation as this leads to unnatural speech

This article published: 15th December, 2005

If you would like to find a partner school to do an exchange project with we can help. See the Global
Gateway

Student presentations
Tom Hayton, Teacher, Business Trainer, British Council Kuala Lumpur

In this article I would like to give you a few tips and some advice on what I've learned from helping students
prepare and deliver presentations.

 Why I get students to do presentations

 Syllabus fit
 Planning a presentation lesson
 Aims
 Classroom Management
 Assessment
 Conclusion

Why I get students to do presentations

Presentations are a great way to have students practise all language systems areas (vocabulary, grammar,
discourse and phonology) and skills (speaking, reading, writing and listening). They also build confidence,
and presenting is a skill that most people will need in the world of work. I find that students who are good
presenters are better communicators all round, since they are able to structure and express their ideas
clearly.

 Presentation skills are extremely useful both in and outside the classroom. After completing a
project, a presentation is a channel for students to share with others what they have learned. It is
also a chance to challenge and expand on their understanding of the topic by having others ask
questions. And in the world of work, a confident presenter is able to inform and persuade
colleagues effectively.
 Presentations can also form a natural part of task based learning. By focussing on a particular
language point or skill, the presentation is a very practical way to revise and extend book, pair and
group work. The audience can also be set a task, for example, a set of questions to answer on the
presentation, which is a way of getting students to listen to each other.

Top of page

Syllabus fit
Normally the presentation will come towards the end of a lesson or series of lessons that focus on a
particular language or skill area. It is a type of freer practice. This is because the students need to feel
relatively confident about what they are doing before they stand up and do it in front of other people. If I have
been teaching the past simple plus time phrases to tell a story, for example, I give my students plenty of
controlled and semi controlled practice activities, such as gapfills, drills and information swaps before I ask
them to present on, say, an important event in their country's history, which involves much freer use of the
target grammar point.
 Top of page

Planning a presentation lesson

Normally a presentation lesson will have an outline like this:

 Revision of key language areas

 Example presentation, which could be from a textbook or given by the teacher
 Students are given a transcript or outline of the presentation
 Students identify key stages of the example presentation- greeting, introduction, main points in
order of importance, conclusion
 Focus on linking and signalling words ('Next…', 'Now I'd like you to look at…', etc.). Students
underline these in the transcript/place them in the correct order
 Students are put into small groups and write down aims
 Students then write down key points which they order, as in the example
 Students decide who is going to say what and how
 Students Prepare visuals (keep the time for this limited as too many visuals become distracting)
 Students practice at their tables
 Students deliver the presentations in front of the class, with the audience having an observation
task to complete (see 'Assessment' below)
 The teacher takes notes for feedback later

It is important that the students plan and deliver the presentations in groups at first, unless they are
extremely confident and/or fluent. This is because:

 Shy students cannot present alone

 Students can support each other before, during and after the presentation
 Getting ready for the presentation is a practice task in itself
 When you have a large class, it takes a very long time for everyone to present individually!

I find it's a good idea to spend time training students in setting clear aims. It is also important that as
teachers we think clearly about why we are asking students to present.

Top of page

Aims
Presentations normally have one or more of the following aims:

 To inform/ raise awareness of an important issue

 To persuade people to do something
 Form part of an exam, demonstrating public speaking/presentation skills in a first or second
language

I set students a task where they answer these questions:

 Why are you making the presentation?

 What do you want people to learn?
 How are you going to make it interesting?

Let's say I want to tell people about volcanoes. I want people to know about why volcanoes form and why
they erupt. This would be an informative/awareness raising presentation. So by the end, everyone should
know something new about volcanoes, and they should be able to tell others about them. My plan might look
like this:
  Introduction- what is a volcano? (2 minutes)
 Types of volcano (5 minutes)
 Volcanoes around the world (2 minutes)
 My favourite volcano (2 minutes)
 Conclusion (2-3 minutes)
 Questions (2 minutes)

Top of page

Classroom Management
I find that presentation lessons pass very quickly, due the large amount of preparation involved. With a class
of 20 students, it will probably take at least 3 hours. With feedback and follow up tasks, it can last even
longer. I try to put students into groups of 3 or 4 with classes of up to 20 students, and larger groups of 5 or
6 with classes up to 40. If you have a class larger than 40, it would be a good idea to do the presentation in
a hall or even outside.

Classroom management can become difficult during a presentations lesson, especially during the final
presenting stage, as the presenters are partly responsible for managing the class! There are a few points I
find effective here:

 Training students to stand near people who are chatting and talk 'through' the chatter, by
demonstration
 Training students to stop talking if chatter continues, again by demonstration
 Asking for the audience's attention ('Can I have your attention please?')
 Setting the audience an observation task, which is also assessed by the teacher
 Limiting the amount of time spent preparing visuals
 Arranging furniture so everyone is facing the front

Most of these points are self-explanatory, but I will cover the observation task in more detail in the next
section, which deals with assessment.

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Assessment
The teacher needs to carefully consider the assessment criteria, so that s/he can give meaningful feedback.
I usually run through a checklist that covers:

 Level - I can't expect Elementary students to use a wide range of tenses or vocabulary, for
example, but I'd expect Advanced students to have clear pronunciation and to use a wide range of
vocabulary and grammar
 Age - Younger learners do not (normally) have the maturity or general knowledge of adults, and the
teacher's expectations need to reflect this
 Needs - What kind of students are they? Business English students need to have much more
sophisticated communication skills than others. Students who are preparing for an exam need to
practise the skills that will be assessed in the exam.

I write a list of language related points I'm looking for. This covers:

 Range / accuracy of vocabulary

 Range / accuracy of grammar
 Presentation / discourse management- is it well structured? What linking words are used and how?
 Use of visuals- Do they help or hinder the presentation?
 Paralinguistic features
'Paralinguistics' refers to non-verbal communication. This is important in a presentation because eye
contact, directing your voice to all parts of the room, using pitch and tone to keep attention and so on are all
part of engaging an audience.

I find it's a good idea to let students in on the assessment process by setting them a peer observation task.
The simplest way to do this is to write a checklist that relates to the aims of the lesson. A task for
presentations on major historical events might have a checklist like this:

 Does the presenter greet the audience? YES/NO

 Does the presenter use the past tense? YES/NO
 Tick the linking words the presenter uses:
o And then…
o Next…
o Finally…

And so on. This normally helps me to keep all members of the audience awake. To be really sure, though, I
include a question that involves personal response to the presentation such as 'What did you like about this
presentation and why?'. If working with young learners, it's a good idea to tell them you will look at their
answers to the observation task. Otherwise they might simply tick random answers!

Speaking and elementary learners

Sue Leather, freelance trainer and writer

What is 'speaking' in the elementary level classroom?

Unfortunately, I think that all too often, 'speaking' can be confined to students answering the teacher's
questions or repetition and manipulation of form. As my elementary students have limited linguistic
resources, it can be difficult to find ways to get them to really 'push' their productive skills in a meaningful
way.

 Lesson paradigms
 Three example lessons
o Talking about my room
o Parents
o Teenage advice
 Personalisation
 Creating the need to communicate
 Quality of teacher feedback
 Conclusion

Lesson paradigms
In 'Learning Teaching,' Jim Scrivener proposes a teaching sequence model which he calls 'ARC.' He
suggests that any teaching sequence could potentially have three elements to it: 'Authentic use,'
'Restricted use' and 'Clarification and focus.' Hence ARC. In this model,

 'Authentic use' means exposure to or practice of real language use

 'Restricted use' means controlled practice of language
 'Clarification and focus' means drawing our students' attention to form.

These elements of the lesson can appear in any order in the lesson, depending on aims, level and focus.

'Authentic use' is not confined to speaking, it incorporates any elements which allow the students to
engage with the language in an authentic way. It could include any of the four skills. In this article, I'd like to
look at the 'authentic use' element of the lesson and see what it might mean in terms of elementary
speaking. I'll describe three very different lessons which introduce speaking in a more 'real life' way to our
elementary learners.

Top of page

Three example lessons

Talking about my room (Using here is / there are / is there…? / are there…?)

 Pre-teach or revise items of furniture and right, left, top, bottom and if you haven't already taught
these, 'there is' and there are.
 The students should sit in pairs back to back. If this isn't possible you can use large card or their
books to 'hide' the individual student's work.
 Each student draws their ideal room or favourite room in their house on the top half of a large sheet
of paper. They should not show anyone.
 On the bottom half of the paper, each student draws an empty 'box'
 Students take it in turns to describe their room/ draw their partner's room on the paper.
 The teacher then comments on content and does a small amount of correction.

Parents (Using adjectives which describe character / comparatives)

 Pre-teach or revise 10 character adjectives e.g. kind, fair, intelligent, honest etc.
 Write the list on the board.
 Ask the students to decide which 8 qualities are important in a parent (or teacher).
 Each student writes their own individual list of 7 in order of importance.
 Students then share their lists in pairs and try to agree on one list.
 Students can then work in groups of four together and see how similar or different their lists are.
 Get group representatives to give feedback to the class.
 The teacher can then comment on content and give a small amount of correction if necessary.

Teenage advice (Using: should)

 Find or write a simple story about a teenager with a 'problem'. The story should be believable and
should include a number of decisions. Leave it open-ended.

Download sample story >> 43K pdf

 Cut the story into four or five separate paragraphs so that at the end of each section there is a
decision to be made.
 Students then work in groups of four, with a chairperson.
 Give out the first paragraph. Students read and decide for themselves what they think s/he should
do.
 Groups then compare ideas.
 Get some brief open class feedback from around the class, but don't correct errors.
 Do the same with each paragraph, with feedback after each section. Monitor throughout.
 Final feedback on what s/he should do at end of story from group representatives.

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Personalisation
These exercises all involve a degree of personaliseation. Instead of talking about a fictional picture in a
course book, students are creating their own meanings. We all like to talk about ourselves and our lives.
This makes the lesson transcend the level of 'practise phase' and move into the realms of 'real
communication.'

The students will relate to the teenage problem, as it's likely to be one that they or their friends have had. It
allows them to deal with personal issues in a safe context, as they're talking about someone else.

Top of page

Creating the need to communicate

The activities all involve an element of information gap and demand that the students interact in order to
complete the tasks. In the first lesson they have to communicate because they can't see each other's
drawing, the only way to get the information is to speak. The ordering exercise in the second lesson also
helps them to focus. If the students are engaged, they are striving or 'pushing' to communicate. Any
potential frustration when they find the 'gaps' in their language skills is offset by the intrinsically interesting
and engaging nature of the tasks.

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Quality of teacher feedback

As always, it's essential to give feedback on content as well as language. Otherwise, the message we're
giving to our students is that only the language element is important. In this case, some comments about
different rooms you've heard about during monitoring will be helpful.

What will you do about correction of the 'form'? Well, it's unlikely that the students will get everything right
first time. What I try to do is select one element to correct immediately, for example pronunciation of 'schwa',
and then decide to review at another time.

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Conclusion
It's important for elementary students to go beyond simple repetition and manipulation of form. They
sometimes need to get away from mere 'language practice' and to strive to communicate meaningfully about
topics which really concern them. This will inevitably mean mistakes, and sometimes frustration. Both these
are part of language learning and shouldn't be avoided. If as teachers we give good quality feedback on
content as well as language, we will encourage our students to strive to create their own meanings through
English.

References

'Learning Teaching' Scrivener, Jim, Heinemann 1994

Getting teenagers talking

Catherine Sheehy Skeffington, British Council, Barcelona

Getting teenagers to use English in class can provide a considerable challenge to most teachers. This article
examines some of the reasons why it can be so difficult and makes some suggestions for overcoming these
problems.

 Why it's important

o Long-term and short-term memory
o Language fitness & agility
o Authenticity
 Why they don't use English
o Peer pressure
o Lack of motivation
 o Lack of support
 How we can get students talking
o Explain why it's important
o Confidence tricks
o Attainable goals
 Conclusion

Why it's important

Long-term and short-term memory

Theoretically, we retain information in two ways: In short-term and long-term storage. We transfer
information from one to the other by convincing our brains that facts in the short-term memory are valuable
enough to be put in long-term storage - otherwise, the information is discarded.

 Our native language is stored in the long-term memory. New information about a second
language, however, is stored in the short-term until it is transferred.
 To understand the new information quickly, we often translate into our native language.
However, this makes it more difficult for the brain to accept the new information into the
long-term memory. The result? We quickly forget the information about the second
language.
 Students need to translate less often. If they get used to speaking English - this helps the
new information to be stored more quickly and for longer.

Language fitness & agility

Language learning and maintenance uses a surprising number of muscles - most importantly, the brain, and
the more obvious muscles in the mouth and jaw.

 It follows logically that just as with any other muscle, the more you exercise it, the easier it
is to use.
 So how often do teenagers exercise the muscles required for speaking English? If their
only opportunity is English class, they need to maximise on the time to exercise as much
as possible.

Authenticity
Speaking is a way of expressing ourselves in whatever language we use. The most motivating language to
learn therefore enables us to talk in a way that is true to our personality. Even the best coursebook cannot
provide this resource for every individual in every class!

 Students bring their personalities to every class - if we can keep English as the language
medium, their authentic language requirements will become apparent. This means
accepting their personalities - in terms of topic (e.g. music, fashion, gossip), and function
(e.g. exaggerating, exchanging anecdotes).
 If they don't have the tools to express themselves in English, they'll use the tools they do
have - their native language.

Top of page

Why they don't use English

Peer pressure
Even native speakers take years to master their language, so it's no surprise a foreign language learner has
to make a lot of mistakes before even managing to produce anything approaching good English. The
spontaneous nature of speaking means you're likely to make more mistakes than you would otherwise. So
generally we're asking our students to stand up and make fools of themselves at a time of their lives when
they are at their most self-conscious.
Lack of motivation
If you ask a teenager why they think they should speak English in class, what's the most likely answer?
Stunned silence, a disdainful look, or a droned 'because we have to practise'? They're following orders - and
for what? So that in two or three years they may be better able to communicate effectively with another
English-speaker? Not only is the motive external, but the end goal is too distant for many teenagers. For
many students, instant rewards for speaking English are much more motivating.

Lack of support
There are two kinds of support: Classroom atmosphere and linguistic support. It may not be realistic to
expect teenagers to provide the generous and patient atmosphere ideal for language practice, but it is
possible to encourage them to support each other, for example by working in teams.
 It is easier to provide linguistic support, in terms of words and phrases that are required for
classroom interaction. Classroom language (e.g. 'Sorry I'm late', 'Can you repeat that,
please?' etc.) is the only English they will need to repeat throughout the whole course, and
it has an authentic context - it would be a waste not to capitalise on it!

Top of page

How we can get students talking

Explain why it's important

Only you know how mature your class is and how well they will respond to the rationale behind your
methods. However, it's often worth giving even a less mature group a chance to understand what you're
trying to achieve. Not all students will react in the same way - the underlying theory may motivate smaller
groups within the class, even though it might not appeal to the class as a whole.

Confidence tricks
This involves rewarding them for using 'easy language' - making them believe the goal is easy to achieve.

 Classroom language is ideal for this, as are pronunciation games.

 Drilling has a particular appeal, as the student's voice is safe in a crowd of voices, and it is
the sound of the English (not their English) that is strange or amusing.
 Along the same lines, choosing a buzzword for a class can encourage even the weakest
student to try to use their English. The word could either be very useful, or sound a bit
strange or be a key word in the group of vocabulary just learnt. The use of the word then
has to be rewarded - and how you do that is up to you.

Attainable goals
Obviously the lower the level of the group, the less English you can expect them to produce.

 For very low levels, the aim may be to spend only five or ten minutes speaking English per
class. Initially this may be spent presenting and practising classroom language, which
then allows them to extend 'English time' for themselves.
 For higher levels, it is still worth identifying when it is more important to be using only
English and when it is good to use their native language. This should be indicated by
some kind of visual to remind them when to do what.

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Conclusion
As with most techniques concerning teenagers, it's important not to give up! For all concerned, the task is
not easy but it isn't impossible either. The aim is simply to try and increase the amount they speak English -
this could be from 20% of the class to 40%, but it could also be from 0% of the class to 0.5%. Either way,
you have had a positive effect on their oral English - so recognise it!

Teaching speaking skills 2 - overcoming classroom problems

Fiona Lawtie, ELT teacher, British Council, Caracas
This article is written for teachers with large classes of students who have encountered some of the
following or similar problems during speaking activities in their classroom.

 Students won't talk or say anything

 When students work in pairs or groups they just end up chatting in their own language
 When all the students speak together it gets too noisy and out of hand and I lose control of the
classroom

 Why should we teach speaking skills in the classroom?

o Motivation
o Speaking is fundamental to human communication
 Dealing with the arguments against teaching speaking skills
o Student's won't talk or say anything
o Students chat in their own language
o The lesson is too noisy and I lose control of it
 Conclusion
 References

Why should we teach speaking skills in the classroom?

 Motivation
Many students equate being able to speak a language as knowing the language and therefore view
learning the language as learning how to speak the language, or as Nunan (1991) wrote, "success
is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language." Therefore, if
students do not learn how to speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the language
classroom they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning. On the other hand, if the
right activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising general
learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place to be.
 Speaking is fundamental to human communication
Just think of all the different conversations you have in one day and compare that with how much
written communication you do in one day. Which do you do more of? In our daily lives most of us
speak more than we write, yet many English teachers still spend the majority of class time on
reading and writing practice almost ignoring speaking and listening skills. Do you think this is a
good balance? If the goal of your language course is truly to enable your students to communicate
in English, then speaking skills should be taught and practiced in the language classroom.

Top of page

Dealing with common arguments against teaching speaking skills in the classroom
 Students won't talk or say anything
One way to tackle this problem is to find the root of the problem and start from there. If the problem
is cultural, that is in your culture it is unusual for students to talk out loud in class, or if students feel
really shy about talking in front of other students then one way to go about breaking this cultural
barrier is to create and establish your own classroom culture where speaking out loud in English is
the norm. One way to do this is to distinguish your classroom from other classrooms in your school
by arranging the classroom desks differently, in groups instead of lines etc. or by decorating the
walls in English language and culture posters. From day one teach your students classroom
language and keep on teaching it and encourage your students to ask for things and to ask
questions in English. Giving positive feedback also helps to encourage and relax shy students to
speak more. Another way to get students motivated to speak more is to allocate a percentage of
their final grade to speaking skills and let the students know they are being assessed continually on
their speaking practice in class throughout the term.

A completely different reason for student silence may simply be that the class activities are boring
or are pitched at the wrong level. Very often our interesting communicative speaking activities are
not quite as interesting or as communicative as we think they are and all the students are really
required to do is answer 'yes' or 'no' which they do quickly and then just sit in silence or worse
talking noisily in their L1. So maybe you need to take a closer look at the type of speaking activities
 you are using and see if they really capture student interest and create a real need for
communication. (Why not try out some of the speaking activities on this web site).

Another way to encourage your students to speak in English is simply to speak in English yourself
as much as possible in class. If you are shy about speaking in English, how can you expect your
students to overcome their fears about speaking English? Don't worry if you are not completely
fluent or don't have that elusive perfect native accent, as Swain (1985) wrote "We learn to speak by
speaking" and that goes for teachers as well as students. The more you practice the more you will
improve your own oral skills as well as help your students improve theirs.

Top of page

 When students work in pairs or groups they just end up chatting in their own language.
Is the activity or task pitched at the right level for the students?
Make sure you give the students all the tools and language they need to be able to complete the
task. If the language is pitched too high they may revert to their L1, likewise if the task is too easy
they may get bored and revert to their L1. Also, be aware of the fact that some students especially
beginners, will often use their L1 as an emotional support at first, translating everything word for
word to check they have understood the task before attempting to speak. In the case of these
students simply be patient as most likely once their confidence grows in using English their
dependence on using their L1 will begin to disappear.

Are all the students actively involved and is the activity interesting?
If students do not have something to say or do, or don't feel the need to speak, you can be sure it
won't be long before they are chatting away in their L1.

Was the timing of the activity good? The timing of a speaking activity in a class can be crucial
sometimes. How many teachers have discovered that their speaking activity ended up as a
continuation of the students break-time gossip conducted in the L1? After break-time, why not try
giving students an activity to calm them down and make them focus before attempting speaking
activities that involve groups of pair work. Another way to discourage students speaking in their L1
is to walk around the classroom monitoring their participation and giving support and help to
students as they need it. If certain students persist in speaking in the L1 then perhaps you should
ask them to stay behind after class and speak to them individually and explain to them the
importance of speaking English and ask them why they don't feel comfortable speaking in English
in the class. Maybe they just need some extra reassurance or they don't like working with certain
students or there is some other problem that you can help them to resolve.

Top of page

 When all the students speak together it gets too noisy and out of hand and I lose control of the
classroom

First of all separate the two points a noisy classroom and an out of control classroom. A classroom
full of students talking and interacting in English, even if it is noisy is exactly what you want, maybe
you just feel like you are losing control because the class is suddenly student centered and not
teacher centered. This is an important issue to consider. Learner centered classrooms where
learners do the talking in groups and learners have to take responsibility for using communicative
resources to complete a task are shown to be more conducive to language learning than teacher
centered classes (Long & Richards 1987). Nevertheless, many classrooms all over the world
continue to be teacher centered, so the question you have to ask yourself is, how learner centered
is my classroom?

Losing control of the classroom, on the other hand, is a different issue. Once again walking around
and monitoring the students as they are working in groups can help, as you can naturally move
over to the part of the classroom where the noise is coming from and calm the rogue students
 down and focus them back on the task without disrupting the rest of the students who are working
well in their groups. If students really get too rowdy then simply change the pace of the class and
type of activity to a more controlled task, for example a focus on form or writing task where
students have to work in silence individually. Once the students have calmed down you can return
to the original or another interactive group activity.

Top of page

Conclusion
These are just some of the problems that teachers with large classes face when teaching speaking activities
in the classroom. These problems are not new nor are the solutions offered above. Teachers all over the
world continue to face the same hurdles, but any teacher who has overcome these difficulties and now has a
large class of energetic students talking and working in English in groups together will tell you it is worth all
the trial and error and effort at the outset. If you believe in the importance of teaching speaking skills in the
classroom but are having difficulties making speaking activities work in your classroom why not contact your
local teaching associations or branch of TESOL. Maybe they run workshops for teaching speaking skills, or
maybe they can put you in contact with other teachers in similar situations but with more experience
teaching speaking skills who will be willing to share their experiences with you.

This article published: 16th February, 2004

References
1. Celce-Murcia. M. (2001). Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (3rd ed). USA:
Heinle&Heinle.
2. Long M.H & Richards, J.C. (1987). Methodology in TESOL. USA: Heinle&Heinle.
3. Nunan. D. (1991) Language Teaching Methodology. UK: Prentice Hall International (Chapter two & three)
4. Tanner .R. & Green.C.(1998) Tasks for teacher education. UK. Addisson Wesley Longman. Ltd.

Teaching speaking skills 2 - overcoming classroom problems

Fiona Lawtie, ELT teacher, British Council, Caracas

This article is written for teachers with large classes of students who have encountered some of the
following or similar problems during speaking activities in their classroom.

 Students won't talk or say anything

 When students work in pairs or groups they just end up chatting in their own language
 When all the students speak together it gets too noisy and out of hand and I lose control of the
classroom

 Why should we teach speaking skills in the classroom?

o Motivation
o Speaking is fundamental to human communication
 Dealing with the arguments against teaching speaking skills
o Student's won't talk or say anything
o Students chat in their own language
o The lesson is too noisy and I lose control of it
 Conclusion
 References

Why should we teach speaking skills in the classroom?

 Motivation
Many students equate being able to speak a language as knowing the language and therefore view
learning the language as learning how to speak the language, or as Nunan (1991) wrote, "success
is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language." Therefore, if
 students do not learn how to speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the language
classroom they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning. On the other hand, if the
right activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising general
learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place to be.
 Speaking is fundamental to human communication
Just think of all the different conversations you have in one day and compare that with how much
written communication you do in one day. Which do you do more of? In our daily lives most of us
speak more than we write, yet many English teachers still spend the majority of class time on
reading and writing practice almost ignoring speaking and listening skills. Do you think this is a
good balance? If the goal of your language course is truly to enable your students to communicate
in English, then speaking skills should be taught and practiced in the language classroom.

Top of page

Dealing with common arguments against teaching speaking skills in the classroom
 Students won't talk or say anything
One way to tackle this problem is to find the root of the problem and start from there. If the problem
is cultural, that is in your culture it is unusual for students to talk out loud in class, or if students feel
really shy about talking in front of other students then one way to go about breaking this cultural
barrier is to create and establish your own classroom culture where speaking out loud in English is
the norm. One way to do this is to distinguish your classroom from other classrooms in your school
by arranging the classroom desks differently, in groups instead of lines etc. or by decorating the
walls in English language and culture posters. From day one teach your students classroom
language and keep on teaching it and encourage your students to ask for things and to ask
questions in English. Giving positive feedback also helps to encourage and relax shy students to
speak more. Another way to get students motivated to speak more is to allocate a percentage of
their final grade to speaking skills and let the students know they are being assessed continually on
their speaking practice in class throughout the term.

A completely different reason for student silence may simply be that the class activities are boring
or are pitched at the wrong level. Very often our interesting communicative speaking activities are
not quite as interesting or as communicative as we think they are and all the students are really
required to do is answer 'yes' or 'no' which they do quickly and then just sit in silence or worse
talking noisily in their L1. So maybe you need to take a closer look at the type of speaking activities
you are using and see if they really capture student interest and create a real need for
communication. (Why not try out some of the speaking activities on this web site).

Another way to encourage your students to speak in English is simply to speak in English yourself
as much as possible in class. If you are shy about speaking in English, how can you expect your
students to overcome their fears about speaking English? Don't worry if you are not completely
fluent or don't have that elusive perfect native accent, as Swain (1985) wrote "We learn to speak by
speaking" and that goes for teachers as well as students. The more you practice the more you will
improve your own oral skills as well as help your students improve theirs.

Top of page

 When students work in pairs or groups they just end up chatting in their own language.
Is the activity or task pitched at the right level for the students?
Make sure you give the students all the tools and language they need to be able to complete the
task. If the language is pitched too high they may revert to their L1, likewise if the task is too easy
they may get bored and revert to their L1. Also, be aware of the fact that some students especially
beginners, will often use their L1 as an emotional support at first, translating everything word for
word to check they have understood the task before attempting to speak. In the case of these
students simply be patient as most likely once their confidence grows in using English their
dependence on using their L1 will begin to disappear.
 Are all the students actively involved and is the activity interesting?
If students do not have something to say or do, or don't feel the need to speak, you can be sure it
won't be long before they are chatting away in their L1.

Was the timing of the activity good? The timing of a speaking activity in a class can be crucial
sometimes. How many teachers have discovered that their speaking activity ended up as a
continuation of the students break-time gossip conducted in the L1? After break-time, why not try
giving students an activity to calm them down and make them focus before attempting speaking
activities that involve groups of pair work. Another way to discourage students speaking in their L1
is to walk around the classroom monitoring their participation and giving support and help to
students as they need it. If certain students persist in speaking in the L1 then perhaps you should
ask them to stay behind after class and speak to them individually and explain to them the
importance of speaking English and ask them why they don't feel comfortable speaking in English
in the class. Maybe they just need some extra reassurance or they don't like working with certain
students or there is some other problem that you can help them to resolve.

Top of page

 When all the students speak together it gets too noisy and out of hand and I lose control of the
classroom

First of all separate the two points a noisy classroom and an out of control classroom. A classroom
full of students talking and interacting in English, even if it is noisy is exactly what you want, maybe
you just feel like you are losing control because the class is suddenly student centered and not
teacher centered. This is an important issue to consider. Learner centered classrooms where
learners do the talking in groups and learners have to take responsibility for using communicative
resources to complete a task are shown to be more conducive to language learning than teacher
centered classes (Long & Richards 1987). Nevertheless, many classrooms all over the world
continue to be teacher centered, so the question you have to ask yourself is, how learner centered
is my classroom?

Losing control of the classroom, on the other hand, is a different issue. Once again walking around
and monitoring the students as they are working in groups can help, as you can naturally move
over to the part of the classroom where the noise is coming from and calm the rogue students
down and focus them back on the task without disrupting the rest of the students who are working
well in their groups. If students really get too rowdy then simply change the pace of the class and
type of activity to a more controlled task, for example a focus on form or writing task where
students have to work in silence individually. Once the students have calmed down you can return
to the original or another interactive group activity.

Top of page

Conclusion
These are just some of the problems that teachers with large classes face when teaching speaking activities
in the classroom. These problems are not new nor are the solutions offered above. Teachers all over the
world continue to face the same hurdles, but any teacher who has overcome these difficulties and now has a
large class of energetic students talking and working in English in groups together will tell you it is worth all
the trial and error and effort at the outset. If you believe in the importance of teaching speaking skills in the
classroom but are having difficulties making speaking activities work in your classroom why not contact your
local teaching associations or branch of TESOL. Maybe they run workshops for teaching speaking skills, or
maybe they can put you in contact with other teachers in similar situations but with more experience
teaching speaking skills who will be willing to share their experiences with you.

This article published: 16th February, 2004

References
1. Celce-Murcia. M. (2001). Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (3rd ed). USA:
Heinle&Heinle.
2. Long M.H & Richards, J.C. (1987). Methodology in TESOL. USA: Heinle&Heinle.
3. Nunan. D. (1991) Language Teaching Methodology. UK: Prentice Hall International (Chapter two & three)
4. Tanner .R. & Green.C.(1998) Tasks for teacher education. UK. Addisson Wesley Longman. Ltd.

Role play
Joanna Budden, British Council, Spain

In this article I will outline several reasons for using role play in the classroom and I will offer some tips for
getting the most out of role play.

 Introduction
 What is role play?
 Why use role play?
 Tips on successful classroom role play
 Bibliography

Introduction
Incorporating role-play into the classroom adds variety, a change of pace and opportunities for a lot of
language production and also a lot of fun! It can be an integral part of the class and not a 'one-off' event. If
the teacher believes that the activity will work and the necessary support is provided, it can be very
successful. However, if the teacher isn't convinced about the validity of using role play the activity "will fall
flat on its face just as you expected it to" (Gillian Porter Ladousse 1987). Therefore, if you think positive and
have a go, you may be pleasantly surprised!

What is role play?

Role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself into somebody else's shoes, or when you
stay in your own shoes but put yourself into an imaginary situation!

Imaginary people - The joy of role-play is that students can 'become' anyone they like for a short time! The
President, the Queen, a millionaire, a pop star …….. the choice is endless! Students can also take on the
opinions of someone else. 'For and Against' debates can be used and the class can be split into those who
are expressing views in favour and those who are against the theme.

Imaginary situations - Functional language for a multitude of scenarios can be activated and practised
through role-play. 'At the restaurant', 'Checking in at the airport', 'Looking for lost property' are all possible
role-plays.

Top of page
Why use role-play?
It is widely agreed that learning takes place when activities are engaging and memorable. Jeremy Harmer
advocates the use of role-play for the following reasons:
 It's fun and motivating
 Quieter students get the chance to express themselves in a more forthright way
 The world of the classroom is broadened to include the outside world - thus offering a much wider
range of language opportunities

In addition to these reasons, students who will at some point travel to an English speaking country are given
a chance to rehearse their English in a safe environment. Real situations can be created and students can
benefit from the practice. Mistakes can be made with no drastic consequences.

Top of page

Tips on successful classroom role play

 Prepare for success
Role-play is possible at elementary levels providing the students have been thoroughly prepared.
Try to think through the language the students will need and make sure this language has been
presented. Students may need the extra support of having the language on the board. I recently did
a 'lost property office' role-play with elementary adults and we spent time beforehand drilling the
structures the students would need to use. When the role-play began the students felt 'armed' with
the appropriate language.
At higher levels the students will not need so much support with the language but they will need
time to 'get into' the role.

 The role of the teacher

Some of the possible teacher roles are:
o Facilitator - students may need new language to be 'fed' in by the teacher. If rehearsal
time is appropriate the feeding in of new language should take place at this stage.
o Spectator - The teacher watches the role-play and offers comments and advice at the end.
o Participant - It is sometimes appropriate to get involved and take part in the role-play
yourself.
 Bring situations to life
Realia and props can really bring a role-play to life. A group of my young learners recently played
the roles of pizza chef and customer. A simple cone of white card with CHEF written on it took a
minute to make and I believe it made the whole process more fun and memorable for the class. As
soon as it was placed on their heads they 'became' the pizza chef and acted accordingly.
Rearranging the furniture can also help. If you are imagining you are in at the tourist information
office or at the doctor's surgery try to make it as real as you can. Students can even leave the room
and make an entrance by knocking on the door.
 Keep it real and relevant
Try to keep the roles you ask students to play as real to life as possible. It may be hard for students
who have little opportunity to travel to imagine they are in 'Ye Olde Tea Shop' in the heart of the
English countryside. However, it may be within their schema to imagine they have been asked to
help an English speaker who is visiting their own country. This may involve using some L1 to
explain about the local culture or to translate local menus into English for the guest to their country.
Students working in the business world may find it easy to role-play a business meeting with
colleagues visiting from abroad.
If you are working with young children, try to exploit their natural ability to 'play'. They are used to
acting out a visit to the shops or preparing food, as that is how they play with their friends.

Top of page

 Feed-in language
As students practise the role-play they might find that they are stuck for words and phrases. In the
practice stage the teacher has a chance to 'feed-in' the appropriate language. This may need the
teacher to act as a sort of 'walking dictionary', monitoring the class and offering assistance as and
when necessary. If you are not happy doing this and you feel that the process of finding the new
language should offer more student autonomy, you could have 'time-out' after the practice stage for
students to use dictionaries to look up what they need.
As mentioned in the role of the teacher section, feeding-in the language students need is
fundamental. By doing so, they will learn new vocabulary and structure in a natural and memorable
environment. It is a chance to use real and natural language.

 Error Correction
There are many ways to correct mistakes when using role-play. It is rarely appropriate for the
teacher to jump in and correct every mistake. This could be incredibly de-motivating! Some
students do like to be corrected straight after a role-play activity, while the language is still fresh in
their minds. Sentences with errors can be written on the board for the group to correct together.
o Self-correction - If you have the equipment to record the role-plays either on audiocassette
or on video, students can be given the opportunity to listen to the dialogue again and
reflect on the language used. They may find it easy to spot their own mistakes.
o Peer-correction - Fellow students may be able to correct some mistakes made by their
peers. Students could be asked to listen out for both great bits of language they'd like to
 use themselves, and some mistakes they hear. Be careful to keep peer-correction a
positive and profitable experience for all involved.
o Making a note of common mistakes yourself and dealing with them in future classes
ensures that the students don't lose motivation by being corrected on the spot or straight
after the role play. Negotiate with students and ask them how they would like to be
corrected.
 Use your imagination and have fun
The most successful role play I did last year was with a group of teenagers and was used as a
spring board activity after listening to a song. The song was Avril Lavigne´s Skater Boy. The class
worked in pairs to act out the scene of Skater Boy finally getting to meet his ex-girlfriend after the
concert. The results were humorous and I was surprised that they all really got into the roles they
played.
Role-play can be a lot of fun. If you still feel reluctant to use it in the class I suggest you begin to
integrate it slowly. Why not extend an appropriate reading or a listening from a course book and
turn it into a role-play? You may be pleasantly surprised by the results!

Bibliography
Role Play - Gillian Porte Ladousse (Oxford 1987)
The Practice of English Language Teaching - Jeremy Harmer (Longman 1989)

Find the gap - increasing speaking in class

Gareth Rees, teacher and materials writer, London Metropolitan University

The communicative approach to language learning stresses the need for meaningful communication,
emphasising that if students have a genuine reason or motivation to talk then they will learn to use the
language more effectively. This article looks at how the notion of a gap between speakers can be used to
provide a reason for communication. Finding ways to create gaps between students, gaps which need
closing, creates speaking opportunities and prompts the creation of new activities.

 What is a gap?
 Types of gap
 Increasing student talking time
 Conclusion

What is a gap
In this context, gap may be taken to mean difference. If there are two students, A and B, and if A has some
information which B does not, and possibly vice-versa, then there is a difference or gap between the two
students. A task which requires B to find out the information that A has (i.e. a task which closes the gap) will
provide a reason for communication.
Top of page
Types of gap
 The information gap

This is the classic gap exploited by the communicative approach. Student A had some information,
perhaps concerning the prices of food. Student B needs to know these prices, and so asks A
questions to find the information.

The information gap is ideally suited to pair and small group work and usually relies upon pre-
prepared information cards.

 The experience gap

All students in classes have had different experiences in their lives - so this is immediately a gap. In
some classes this gap is very marked. For example, a multi-lingual adult class in the UK provides
 great difference between the backgrounds of the students. A mono-lingual primary class will
obviously show less difference.

The experience gap is easily exploited in questionnaires - particularly those that aim to practice
past forms

 The opinion gap

Most people have differing opinions, feelings and reactions to situations, events and propositions.
Finding out about someone's feelings and opinions is all about closing the gap between people.
The increase in personalised activities that is evident in many textbooks is testament to the value of
this gap.

 The knowledge gap

Students know different things about the world. This gap can be exploited in brainstorms and
general knowledge style quizzes.

Top of page

Increasing student talking time

The description of the different gaps is by no means exhaustive, although I think they are the most powerful
for the classroom. The intention here is to raise the profile of the gap, so that as teachers we can try to
increase the amount of speaking which serves a purpose, to close a gap.

Teachers often ask 'how can I get my students talking in class?' and 'how can I increase the amount of time
students spend talking?'. Creating, finding and exploiting gaps is one way to do this.

I am not necessarily talking here about the main speaking practice activity within a lesson. I am suggesting
ways to raise the overall quantity of speaking throughout a lesson.

This is best illustrated through examples

 Giving answers

When checking an exercise in class, the teacher can read out the correct answers, and then deal
with any queries. However, this could be a wasted opportunity. If half the class are given one half of
the answers (perhaps on a slip of paper, or perhaps from the board, while the others look away),
and the other half of the class are given the remaining answers, then the students must talk to each
other to check their work. This can be particularly effective when dealing with reading
comprehension activities, as student A can ask the question to B, listen to the answer and then
give the correct one. The teacher can still deal with queries afterwards.

Even the simple act of asking students to check their answers in pairs before going through the
exercise as a class exploits a gap, they don't know what the other has written.

 Vocabulary based speaking activities

Following extensive vocabulary study, why not come up with a simple activity that allows students
to use the vocabulary when speaking.

It is often possible to think of questions that either use the vocabulary items from the lesson, or
whose answers would seem to demand them. To answer these questions students should draw on
their opinions and experience.
 For example, following work on 'word formation - affixation' can you think of questions that use
some of the items studied?

What is the most romantic thing you have done?

When did you last take a photograph?
Which industries are important in your country?

These question may be presented in a skeleton form, or with the base word provided e.g.

What/most/romantic/you/done?

When did you last take a _________ (PHOTOGRAPHY)?

Students then interview each other.

 Personalised introductions to topics

Exploiting the experience or opinion gap is a good way to lead in to a topic. For example, if the
topic area is jobs, students can tell each other about the jobs the members of their family have. Or,
students can rank jobs according to certain criteria (would like to do, usefulness to society) and
then compare their decisions with other students.

Such exercises usually don't require any materials and need not last a long time. The intention is to
create plenty of opportunities for meaningful communication and to develop a familiarity with
speaking amongst the students.

Conclusion
By keeping the notion of a gap between students in mind, it is easy to come up with speaking activities that
promote meaningful communication. These activities often require very little preparation but can increase
the total amount of student talking time in any lesson. In my own teaching, I find the gap to be a prompt or
spur to thinking up productive speaking practice.

Teaching speaking skills 1

Rolf Donald, Eastbourne School of English, Teacher and Teacher Trainer

'I can understand my teacher's English, but when I speak to 'real people' I can't understand them'. This is a
comment I'm sure many teachers have heard. While it is a bit of an exaggeration, students clearly feel that
classroom-based speaking practice does not prepare them for the real world. Why do students so often
highlight listening and speaking as their biggest problems? Partly because of the demands of listening and
speaking and partly because of the way speaking is often taught. It usually consists of language practice
activities (discussions, information-gap activities etc.) or is used to practise a specific grammar point. Neither
teaches patterns of real interaction. So what can we do in the classroom to prepare students for real
interaction?

 What do students need?

 Practical suggestions
 What language should I teach?
 How do I get students to use new language
 Further reading

What do students need?

 Practice at using L1 (mother tongue) strategies, which they don't automatically transfer.
  An awareness of formal / informal language and practice at choosing appropriate language for
different situations.
 The awareness that informal spoken language is less complex than written language. It uses
shorter sentences, is less organised and uses more 'vague' or non-specific language.
 Exposure to a variety of spoken text types.
 The ability to cope with different listening situations. Many listening exercises involve students as
'overhearers' even though most communication is face-to-face.
 To be competent at both 'message-oriented' or transactional language and interactional language,
language for maintaining social relationships.
 To be taught patterns of real interaction.
 To have intelligible pronunciation and be able to cope with streams of speech.
 Rehearsal time. By giving students guided preparation / rehearsal time they are more likely to use a
wider range of language in a spoken task.

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Practical suggestions

 Transferring L1 strategies
When preparing for a spoken task, make students aware of any relevant l1 strategies that might
help them to perform the task successfully. For example, 'rephrasing' if someone does not
understand what they mean.

 Formal / informal language

Give students one or more short dialogues where one speaker is either too formal or informal.
Students first identify the inappropriate language, then try to change it. Also show students how
disorganised informal speech is.
 Vague language
Using tapescripts of informal speech, focus on examples of vague language.
 Different spoken text types
Draw up a list of spoken text types relevant to the level of your class. Teach the language
appropriate for each text type.
 Interactive listening
Develop interactive listening exercises. Face-to-face listening is the most common and the least
practised by course books. Any form of 'Live listening' (the teacher speaking to the students) is
suitable. (See Try article for a more detailed outline of this)
 Transactional and interactional language
Raise students' awareness by using a dialogue that contains both. It could be two friends chatting
to each other (interactional) and ordering a meal(transactional).
 Real interaction patterns
Teach real interaction patterns. Introduce the following basic interactional pattern: Initiate,
Respond, Follow-up. This is a simplification of Amy Tsui's work. See Tsui (1994)
The following interaction could be analysed as follows:

A: What did you do last night? (Initiate)

B: Went to the cinema (Respond)
A: Oh really? (Follow-up)
What did you see? (Initiate)
B: Lord of the Rings (Respond)
Have you been yet? (Initiate)
A: No it's difficult with the kids (Respond)
B: Yeah of course (follow-up)

 Understanding spoken English

After a listening exercise give students the tapescript. Using part of it, students mark the stressed
words, and put them into groups (tone units). You can use phone numbers to introduce the concept
of tone units. The length of a tone unit depends on the type of spoken text. Compare a speech with
an informal conversation. In the same lesson or subsequent listening lessons you can focus on
reductions in spoken speech, for example, linking, elision and assimilation.
  Preparation and rehearsal
Before a spoken task, give students some preparation and rehearsal time. Students will need
guidance on how to use it. A sheet with simple guidelines is effective.
 Real-life tasks
Try to use real-life tasks as part of your teaching.

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What language should I teach?

Spoken language is both interactional and transactional, but what should teachers focus on in class? Brown
and Yule (1983) suggest the following:

 When teaching spoken language, focus on teaching longer transactional turns. This is because
native speakers have difficulty with them and because students need to be able communicate
information efficiently whether in their country or in a native-speaker country.
 Teach interactional language by using an awareness-raising approach. For example, with
monolingual classes by listening to a recorded l1conversation before a similar l2 recording.
For recordings of native-speaker interactional and transactional conversations, have a look at
'Exploring Spoken English' by McCarthy and Carter (1997) It not only contains a variety of text
types, but each recording comes with analysis.

How do I get students to use new language?

Research by Peter Skehan on Task-based Learning shows that giving students preparation time significantly
increases the range of language used in the performance of the task, whereas the accuracy of the language
is not as influenced. If this is so, then it seems sensible to give students preparation time when encouraging
them to use new language.
 Imagine you have been working on the language that would be useful for the following task:
'Having a conversation with a stranger on public transport'. You have now reached the stage where
you wish students to perform the task. Rather than just give students 10 minutes to prepare and
rehearse the task, give students guided preparation time.

A simple preparation guide for the task could be a few key questions like:
How will you start the conversation?
What topics are you going to talk about?
How are you going to move from one topic to another?
How are you going to end the conversation?

After the preparation stage, students give a 'live performance'. This can be in front of the class or
group to group in a large class. This increases motivation and adds an element of real-life stress.

 Another way of encouraging students to use new language in a communication activity is to make a
game out of it. Give students a situation and several key phrases to include. They get points for
using the language.

Similarly, when working on the language of discussion, you can produce a set of cards with the key
phrases/exponents on. The cards are laid out in front of each group of 2/3/4 students. If a student
uses the language on a particular card appropriately during the discussion, he/she keeps the card.
The student with the most cards wins. If he/she uses the language inappropriately, then he / she
can be challenged and has to leave the card on the table.

Further reading

Brown, G and G.Yule. 1983. Teaching the Spoken Language. Cambridge University Press
Bygate, M. 1987. Speaking. Oxford University Press
Carter, R. and M. McCarthy. 1997. Exploring Spoken English. Cambridge University Press
Skehan, P. 1998. A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning. Oxford University Press
Tsui, A.B.M. 1994 English Conversation. Oxford University Press

Your comments

Mariana Mourente, Brazil

I read the article 'Teaching Speaking Skills', by Rolf Donald, and noticed that he suggests that teachers
"show students how disorganised informal speech is" and also that "it uses shorter sentences".

I really think he could profit from reading the book 'Analysing Casual Conversation', by Diana Slade and
Suzanne Eggins.

There, one can find the transcripts of several authentic casual conversations in Australian English and the
analysis clearly shows that sentences in spoken English are in fact longer and grammatically complex,
because of the intricate interrelationship between clauses.

This book also shows that a great part of conversations in English follow a pattern, just like a tragedy also
follows a pattern. Therefore casual conversation can be classified according to genres.

What I found curious was that Donald also suggested that teachers expose students to "different spoken
text types", which means that, in some level, he is aware that spoken English is not chaotic as he says and
that it is possible to study it systematically.

Trevor Butcher, Poland

Reading both the article 'Teaching Speaking Skills' by Rolf Donald and the comment written by Mariana
Mourente left me wondering what both meant by the length of a sentence. How long is long, and how much
shorter is shorter? Admittedly I have never statistically analyzed sentence lengths in writing or speaking, but
life experience suggests authentic spoken conversational 'sentences' tend to vary between 'uh' and strings
of up to at least a hundred words or so. As to the question of chaotic language I must stand up and admit
that at times my spoken language is chaotic - generally when my brain is rapidly processing new information
that I am at the same time applying to modify the flow of what I am actually trying to say. I believe I am not
alone...

Helping teens to listen

Kevin Thomson, British Council, Barcelona

There are obviously many cultural differences between the teenagers we teach all over the world. However,
I think that many parents and teachers would agree that the teenage years are, to use a cliché, 'a difficult
age' for many young people. It seems clear to me that this has serious implications for teachers teaching
English to groups of teenagers.

 Why teenagers find listening difficult

 Making listening more engaging for teenagers
 Helping students understand spoken English
 Making predictions
 Conclusion

Why teenagers find listening difficult

Some teachers find that their teenage students are often so busy chatting amongst themselves that the
teacher has to make an effort to gain their attention and help them focus on the English lesson.

 I find that the level of motivation of teenage students can vary enormously. Some teenagers are of
course very keen to learn while others are in class because they are forced to be there, not
because they want to be there.
 I seem to see more and more teenagers who have problems of short attention spans which makes
the discipline of listening to reasonably extended discourse in English much more difficult.
  There is also the problem that confronts all students of English and that is the way that individual
sounds change in connected speech (i.e. assimilated, elided and weak forms). This can mean that
students simply turn off when listening to English being spoken as it seems too difficult to follow
without a high level of concentration.

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Making listening more engaging for teenagers:

Many of us will rely on course books for the listening material we use in the classroom and this material may
or may not be suitable for our teens. I think it is important to consider ways in which we can supplement
listening material in course books with material which will motivate our students.

 One possibility is to ask students to bring prepared songs or any other listening material in English
to the classroom. When I have done this I have often been very surprised to see how much work
students put in to prepare the material if asked to do so.
 Students often seem to enjoy bringing a song on tape to school with the words suitably gapped.
Apart from anything else, in this situation the students decide themselves what they are going to
listen to instead of having a listening activity imposed on them by the teacher. I believe that this is a
key to motivating our students.
 Another idea that has worked well in the past for me is to record a short interview with one of my
fellow teachers. I find that I get a lot of mileage out of a 10 minute interview with an English
speaking colleague and that students are really interested in hearing about the life of one of the
other teachers at school.

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Helping students understand spoken English

I always give my students a transcript of tapes they have listened to after we have completed the listening
tasks. Even if students only read and listen to part of what they have heard, it should allow them to become
more aware of the difference between how spoken English sounds compared with how it is written.

 After using a tape where students have to listen for the gist then pick out detail, I always pick out a
tricky sentence and do a piece of intensive listening. Here students listen several (maybe ten) times
to the same sentence and have to work out how many words there are in the sentence then what
the words are exactly. I find my teenage students enjoy doing this and a competitive element can
be introduced by putting students into teams.
 A complex sentence such as "I asked him what the time was" can be analysed after the students
have worked out what the words are. The teacher can point out that the 'k' in 'asked' and 'h' 'him'
sounds disappear in this piece of connected speech and that this is an example of elision.
 Sometimes I simply dictate a sentence like the one above at the beginning of a class as a warmer
and follow the same procedure.

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Making predictions
It will certainly help the listener to make predictions about what they are about to hear before they listen.

 I try to turn prediction activities into a game by putting my teenage students in groups before they
listen and asking them to try to predict the answers to listening tasks where they have to pick out
detailed information.
For example, students could try to guess the missing information in sentences such as "The city
of Glasgow is always………". My students always seem to enjoy this competitive element and it's
always interesting to see who has made the best predictions. I always point out that good listeners
are often good at predicting.
 In an exercise where students have to identify who someone is speaking to on the phone (e.g. a
landlord / an architect / a builder) I would draw a grid on the board and ask students to predict the
 vocabulary, situation and tone of voice for each of the three possibilities. Again, students could do
this in teams and a competitive element could be introduced.

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Conclusion
I believe that it is important for teachers to prepare thoroughly for a listening activity if the activity is to be
successful and I think that this is especially true with teenagers. As motivation is so important when dealing
with young learners, doing some pre-listening activities that are designed to raise interest in the listening
task at hand can often make the experience more engaging and enjoyable for everyone.

This article published: 21st December, 2005

Listening to body language

Nik Peachey, trainer and materials writer, British Council

Body language isn't something that naturally springs to mind when we think about developing our students'
listening skills. After all, you can't hear body language. It does, however, play a key role, especially at the
subconscious level, in communication and an awareness of it and how it can vary from culture to culture,
can be particularly important in helping students to develop their ability to understand in a real environment.

 The features of body language

o Eye contact
o Facial expression
o Proximity
o Posture
o Gesture
 Why I teach body language
 How to teach body language
 Conclusion

The features of body language

Body language is made up of a whole range of features many of which we combine together without ever
thinking about what it is we are doing or what we are expressing.

Eye contact can have a very significant influence when you are interacting with them.

 It can play a key role in helping to establishing rapport and failing to make eye contact in many
cultures is associated with being dishonest or having something to hide.
 Eye contact also plays an important role in turn taking during conversation. Among a group of
people, a speaker will often make eye contact with the person he or she wants a response from.
Someone who wants to enter or interject in a conversation will catch the eye of the person
speaking to indicate that they want to interrupt, and equally someone who no longer wants to listen
will avoid eye contact.
 People who know each other well can communicate mutual understanding with a single look.
 Eye contact is also a way of communicating attraction.

Facial expression is one of the most obvious and flexible forms of communication and can easily convey
mood, attitude, understanding, confusion and a whole range of other things.

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Proximity is a far less obvious form of body language but can be equally as meaningful. It is also something
that can easily be misinterpreted as it can vary so much from culture to culture.
  Many British people require a lot of 'private space' and will often stand much further away from
people than other nationalities whilst talking to them. They seldom touch each other whilst
speaking.
 Breaking these invisible boundaries can either make them very uncomfortable or signal attraction.

Posture can communicate a number of things.

 Your posture can convey a whole range of attitudes, from interest or the lack of it, to degrees of
respect or subordination.
 Speakers often use posture to punctuate what they are saying, shifting forward in their seat or
leaning in towards their interlocutor to punctuate an important point, or slumping back to indicate
that they have finished making a point.

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Gesture can be used to replace verbal communication.

 Different finger, thumb or hand gestures can convey a range of meanings in different cultures, from
insults to approval or even attraction.
 Many good speakers or storytellers use hand gestures to illustrate their stories.
 It can also form part of punctuation with head nods and hand movements, which relate to the
stress, rhythm and tempo of their sentences. Speakers who use their hands a lot often let them
drop at the end of a sentence. Heads often nod down when words in sentences are stressed.
 One of the most obvious and in many ways useful gestures is pointing. "It's over there." "I want that
one."

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Why I teach body language

But if we use all these things subconsciously in our own language, so do we really need to 'teach' them in
the classroom? For me the answer is yes. Although we do use and interpret all these factors in our first
language communications, I believe that they aren't necessarily automatically transferable to the language
we are learning.

 Many students, especially when listening to a second language, focus so heavily on hearing and
understanding 'the words' people are saying that they suffer from a form of cognitive overload.
There is just too much incoming information for them to process and they miss many of these
subtler messages.
 When teachers deal with listening in class, this is most commonly done with the use of recorded
text on audio tape or CD, so these more visual factors in the communication are neglected in our
students' second language development.
 Many of these traits of communication can have different meanings or be interpreted in completely
different ways in different cultures.

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How to teach body language
So how can we deal with body language and help our students to interpret it.
For me one of the most useful mediums for this has been video and particularly video without the sound.
Whenever I use video clips in class with my students I always play them through at least once without the
sound on first.

There are a number of different tasks that I've used depending on the type of clip being shown.

 It's often interesting to play the clip though and get students to speculate about the relationships of
the people in the scene.
o Who is emotionally closest or involved with which other characters?
 o What's the relationship between characters?
o Who is feeling angry?
o What is each person feeling or thinking?
 You can also try to get students to predict what they think characters are talking about or even what
they are saying? If there level is low then they can predict what kinds of things they would be
saying in their mother tongue?
 If you have access to, or can transcribe the script for the clips you use, you can get your students
to try to act out the scene using the script before they hear it. Just let them watch first and think
about what the character they have to play is likely to be thinking or feeling. This gets the students
attempting to interpret their body language and express it through the way they read the script.
 I've also found it interesting to do cultural comparisons using a scene from the target culture with a
similar scene on a video from their own culture. Just choose something fairly straight forward, like a
group of friends in a café or restaurant and aks students to look for differences in the way they
interact.
o Do they touch when they meet?
o How close do they sit when they talk?
o Do they touch whilst talking?
o Do they make eye contact?
o Do they openly express any emotions?
 If you can't find parallel clips, then you could just watch a clip from the target culture and ask your
students to think about how the scene would be different if it were in their country.
 Getting students to view silently before they listen to a scene or video clip can also helps them to
look for 'subtext'. It is often the case that things are being implied which aren't stated in words.
Getting students to focus on these factors can help to raise their awareness of the non-verbal
communication, which is happening.
 If you have time, try preparing two 'false' scripts for a scene. These can be slight variations on the
authentic one. Then give the three scripts to the students and get them to watch the clip silently
and deduce which of the scripts is the correct one.
 If you can't get access to video from the target culture then you can still use clips from the students'
mother culture. Things like politicians speaking or televised debates where there are a number of
people round a table discussing something can be really useful. You can pause and get students to
predict who will be speaking next, or who is making a point.

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Conclusion
I believe that whatever kind of silent viewing you do and whatever you choose to focus on will ultimately help
your students to understand when it comes to listening. They will at least have developed a conceptual
framework for what they need to understand and will have built up some expectations of what they will hear.
Listening should not be an activity we do divorced from visual context. What we see is part of the
comprehension experience and body language forms a large part of how we communicate our message,
even if at time we are unaware of it. Comprehension of body language may not help them when it comes to
expressing themselves, but it's surprising just how much you can understand without ever hearing a word. If
you don't believe me, why not try turning the volume off the next time you are watching TV. You'll be
surprised.

This article published: 22nd June, 2005

Further reading

Field J. 'Skills and Strategies: Towards a new Methodology for Listening' ELT Journal Volume 52/2
April 1998

Willis J. 'The Role of the Visual Element in Spoken Discourse' ELT Documents 114. (Paradigm)

Pre-listening activities
Gareth Rees, teacher and materials writer
Listening skills are hard to develop. Students can do a variety of work before listening to help them
understand the listening.

 Why do pre-listening tasks?

 Aims and types of pre-listening tasks
 Selection criteria

Why do pre-listening tasks?

In real life it is unusual for people to listen to something without having some idea of what they are going to
hear. When listening to a radio phone-in show, they will probably know which topic is being discussed.
When listening to an interview with a famous person, they probably know something about that person
already. A waiter knows the menu from which the diner is choosing their food.

In our first language we rarely have trouble understanding listening. But, in a second language, it is one of
the harder skills to develop - dealing at speed with unfamiliar sounds, words and structures. This is even
more difficult if we do not know the topic under discussion, or who is speaking to whom.

So, simply asking the students to listen to something and answer some questions is a little unfair, and
makes developing listening skills much harder.

Many students are fearful of listening, and can be disheartened when they listen to something but feel they
understand very little. It is also harder to concentrate on listening if you have little interest in a topic or
situation.

Pre-listening tasks aim to deal with all of these issues: to generate interest, build confidence and to facilitate
comprehension.

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Aims and types of pre-listening tasks

 Setting the context

This is perhaps the most important thing to do - even most exams give an idea about who is
speaking, where and why. In normal life we normally have some idea of the context of something
we are listening to.
 Generating interest
Motivating our students is a key task for us. If they are to do a listening about sports, looking at
some dramatic pictures of sports players or events will raise their interest or remind them of why
they (hopefully) like sports. Personalisation activities are very important here. A pair-work
discussion about the sports they play or watch, and why, will bring them into the topic, and make
them more willing to listen.
 Activating current knowledge - what do you know about…?
'You are going to listen to an ecological campaigner talk about the destruction of the rainforest'.
This sets the context, but if you go straight in to the listening, the students have had no time to
transfer or activate their knowledge (which may have been learnt in their first language) in the
second language. What do they know about rainforests? - Where are they? What are they? What
problems do they face? Why are they important? What might an ecological campaigner do? What
organisations campaign for ecological issues?
 Acquiring knowledge
Students may have limited general knowledge about a topic. Providing knowledge input will build
their confidence for dealing with a listening. This could be done by giving a related text to read, or,
a little more fun, a quiz.
 Activating vocabulary / language
Just as activating topic knowledge is important, so is activating the language that may be used in
the listening. Knowledge based activities can serve this purpose, but there are other things that can
be done. If students are going to listen to a dialogue between a parent and a teenager who wants
to stay overnight at a friends, why not get your students to role play the situation before listening.
 They can brainstorm language before hand, and then perform the scene. By having the time to
think about the language needs of a situation, they will be excellently prepared to cope with the
listening.
 Predicting content
Once we know the context for something, we are able to predict possible content. Try giving
students a choice of things that they may or may not expect to hear, and ask them to choose those
they think will be mentioned.
 Pre-learning vocabulary
When we listen in our first language we can usually concentrate on the overall meaning because
we know the meaning of the vocabulary. For students, large numbers of unknown words will often
hinder listening, and certainly lower confidence. Select some vocabulary for the students to study
before listening, perhaps matching words to definitions, followed by a simple practice activity such
as filling the gaps in sentences.
 Checking / understanding the listening tasks
By giving your students plenty of time to read and understand the main listening comprehension
tasks, you allow them to get some idea of the content of the listening. They may even try to predict
answers before listening.

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Selection criteria
When planning your lesson you should take the following factors into account when preparing the pre
listening tasks.

 The time available

 The material available
 The ability of the class
 The interests of the class
 The nature and content of the listening text

The choice of pre-listening task also gives you a chance to grade the listening lesson for different abilities. If
you have a class who are generally struggling with listening work, then the more extensive that the pre-
listening work is the better. If, however, you wish to make the work very demanding, you could simply do
work on the context of the listening. Thus, the same listening text can provide work for different abilities.

Personally, I feel it is important to devote a fair proportion of a lesson to the pre-listening task, should the
listening warrant it. For example, the listening about an ecological campaigner lends itself well to extended
knowledge and vocabulary activation. However, a listening involving airport announcements may only need
a shorter lead-in, as the topic is somewhat narrower.

Overall, training your students to bring their own knowledge and their skills of prediction to their listening
work can only help them when listening to the language outside the classroom. These skills are as much a
part of listening as understanding pronunciation or listening for details.

Pre-listening activities
Gareth Rees, teacher and materials writer

Listening skills are hard to develop. Students can do a variety of work before listening to help them
understand the listening.

 Why do pre-listening tasks?

 Aims and types of pre-listening tasks
 Selection criteria

Why do pre-listening tasks?

In real life it is unusual for people to listen to something without having some idea of what they are going to
hear. When listening to a radio phone-in show, they will probably know which topic is being discussed.
When listening to an interview with a famous person, they probably know something about that person
already. A waiter knows the menu from which the diner is choosing their food.

In our first language we rarely have trouble understanding listening. But, in a second language, it is one of
the harder skills to develop - dealing at speed with unfamiliar sounds, words and structures. This is even
more difficult if we do not know the topic under discussion, or who is speaking to whom.

So, simply asking the students to listen to something and answer some questions is a little unfair, and
makes developing listening skills much harder.

Many students are fearful of listening, and can be disheartened when they listen to something but feel they
understand very little. It is also harder to concentrate on listening if you have little interest in a topic or
situation.

Pre-listening tasks aim to deal with all of these issues: to generate interest, build confidence and to facilitate
comprehension.

Top of page

Aims and types of pre-listening tasks

 Setting the context

This is perhaps the most important thing to do - even most exams give an idea about who is
speaking, where and why. In normal life we normally have some idea of the context of something
we are listening to.
 Generating interest
Motivating our students is a key task for us. If they are to do a listening about sports, looking at
some dramatic pictures of sports players or events will raise their interest or remind them of why
they (hopefully) like sports. Personalisation activities are very important here. A pair-work
discussion about the sports they play or watch, and why, will bring them into the topic, and make
them more willing to listen.
 Activating current knowledge - what do you know about…?
'You are going to listen to an ecological campaigner talk about the destruction of the rainforest'.
This sets the context, but if you go straight in to the listening, the students have had no time to
transfer or activate their knowledge (which may have been learnt in their first language) in the
second language. What do they know about rainforests? - Where are they? What are they? What
problems do they face? Why are they important? What might an ecological campaigner do? What
organisations campaign for ecological issues?
 Acquiring knowledge
Students may have limited general knowledge about a topic. Providing knowledge input will build
their confidence for dealing with a listening. This could be done by giving a related text to read, or,
a little more fun, a quiz.
 Activating vocabulary / language
Just as activating topic knowledge is important, so is activating the language that may be used in
the listening. Knowledge based activities can serve this purpose, but there are other things that can
be done. If students are going to listen to a dialogue between a parent and a teenager who wants
to stay overnight at a friends, why not get your students to role play the situation before listening.
They can brainstorm language before hand, and then perform the scene. By having the time to
think about the language needs of a situation, they will be excellently prepared to cope with the
listening.
 Predicting content
Once we know the context for something, we are able to predict possible content. Try giving
students a choice of things that they may or may not expect to hear, and ask them to choose those
they think will be mentioned.
 Pre-learning vocabulary
When we listen in our first language we can usually concentrate on the overall meaning because
we know the meaning of the vocabulary. For students, large numbers of unknown words will often
 hinder listening, and certainly lower confidence. Select some vocabulary for the students to study
before listening, perhaps matching words to definitions, followed by a simple practice activity such
as filling the gaps in sentences.
 Checking / understanding the listening tasks
By giving your students plenty of time to read and understand the main listening comprehension
tasks, you allow them to get some idea of the content of the listening. They may even try to predict
answers before listening.

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Selection criteria
When planning your lesson you should take the following factors into account when preparing the pre
listening tasks.

 The time available

 The material available
 The ability of the class
 The interests of the class
 The nature and content of the listening text

The choice of pre-listening task also gives you a chance to grade the listening lesson for different abilities. If
you have a class who are generally struggling with listening work, then the more extensive that the pre-
listening work is the better. If, however, you wish to make the work very demanding, you could simply do
work on the context of the listening. Thus, the same listening text can provide work for different abilities.

Personally, I feel it is important to devote a fair proportion of a lesson to the pre-listening task, should the
listening warrant it. For example, the listening about an ecological campaigner lends itself well to extended
knowledge and vocabulary activation. However, a listening involving airport announcements may only need
a shorter lead-in, as the topic is somewhat narrower.

Overall, training your students to bring their own knowledge and their skills of prediction to their listening
work can only help them when listening to the language outside the classroom. These skills are as much a
part of listening as understanding pronunciation or listening for details.

Seven steps to vocabulary learning

Paul Bress

Have you ever considered why a learner (even an advanced one) can hear a difficult English word or phrase
literally thousands of times and still not use that word in the way that a native speaker does? You might
expect that, after having been exposed to a word in ten, twenty, or maybe at the very most thirty, contexts, a
learner will gradually piece together the word's meaning and start to use it correctly, appropriately and
fluently.

 Classroom context
 Seven steps to vocabulary learning
 Conclusion

Classroom context
Of course we cannot expect a learner to acquire difficult words in the same way as a young child acquires
their first language, but, perhaps as teacher we can somehow help learners to arouse their 'learning monitor'
by, for example, providing rich contexts containing the target language and by giving our learners time to
reflect on what the language item means. In this way teachers can use the EFL classroom to replicate the
real world and nurture strategies to help students understand and produce difficult language items which
often seem beyond their grasp.
Seven steps to vocabulary learning
Here are some practical steps that I have used to help my students. As an example I want to focus on one
very tricky word ('actually') and suggest ways that a student can understand what it means, and, thereafter,
be able to use it more fluently. This model (which consists of seven steps) can be used for any difficult
word/phrase.

Step 1
I get my students to listen to the word or phrase in authentic-sounding dialogues

Here are the dialogues I use for 'actually':

 Do you want a chocolate?

No, thanks. I'm on a diet actually.
 Do you want a coffee?
Actually, I'm a bit pushed for time.
 Could I just borrow your book for a moment?
Actually, I'm just about to use it in class. Sorry.
 How's John doing?
Actually, he's doing all right!
 Ready to go?
Yeah…erm…actually I'm going to take my umbrella. It looks like it might rain.
 I see you're still following your diet! (meant sarcastically)
Actually, I've lost a couple of pounds since we last met.

I think the students need at least six contexts to start to understand all the different nuances of meaning of a
difficult target item.

Step 2
I give my students plenty of time to study the word in these contexts, so that they can work out what the
meaning / function is. I either get them to study the contexts individually and then get them to compare their
thoughts in pairs or groups or I get them to discuss in pairs / groups straight away. I prefer the first option,
because, this way, each student gets more time to think for him / herself.

Step 3
I discuss the meaning in plenary. I do this in two stages. First, I simply say "So what do you think?" Then,
after having heard their thoughts, I ask concept questions that uncover the heart of the meaning.

 Examples of concept questions for actually might be:

o Is the speaker saying something quite important?
o Does the speaker give the other person the answer they want / expect?
o Is the speaker asserting him/herself?
Answers: a) important; b) not; c) standing up for him/herself

After doing such concept question work, I use a summing up concept statement, like this one:
"So we use 'actually' after someone asks us a question (often a request or offer), and we don't give them the
answer they want or expect."

Step 4
I provide a phonological model (including pronunciation, stress, and intonation) in a surrounding sentence.

 Most native speakers devote three syllables to 'actually', the stress is on the first syllable, and there
is a rise/fall/rise intonation pattern (which signals the conflict in the situation).
Step 5
I provide a prompt - to elicit use of the word in a natural way.

 Here are some prompts I use for actually:

o "So what do you think of __________ ?" (London) I use a facial expression to show that I
expect a positive response.
o "Would you like a cigarette?"
o "Shall we go out for a meal tonight?"
o "How's your friend Bill?"
 If I don't get the response I want, I repeat and try to get another student to help. Then, if necessary,
I get individual students to repeat the response until they feel completely comfortable with it.

Step 6
I set up a simulation, providing students with the chance to say the word in a natural situation. I distribute the
following scenario and get two of my stronger students to act it in front of the class and then I get all the
students to act it in closed pairs (rotating roles). This is an example scenario I have used for 'actually'.

 John and Mary are in a pub.

1. John asks Mary if she'd like an alcoholic drink.
2. Mary declines this (as she doesn't drink alcohol).
3. John buys her some mineral water.
4. Mary suggests sitting down.
5. John agrees.
6. John asks if it's OK to light a cigarette.
7. Mary says she's got a bronchial problem.
(etc.)

Step 7
I set up a review schedule, in which words are elicited and practised. It's always important to review such
lessons in the future, but each time I do this, I spend less time on it, and insert bigger gaps between the
inclusion of this language item in the review sessions. Ultimately, I reach the point where I just need to say
to someone "Fancy a chocolate?" and I automatically get the response "Actually I'm on a diet."

Conclusion
Students who are living in an English speaking country are often happy learning what difficult words and
phrases mean through their everyday study or work lives, but for the majority of students, learning a
language is a slow and painful process, and we must try to do something to accelerate the pace of learning.
My students should, I believe, benefit from the teaching procedures I've described in this article. If they learn
words and phrases in this systematic way in class, they are not only likely to achieve more communicative
success in class but also to become more aware of the how they learn and the knowledge they need to
acquire to learn words more successfully.

This article published: 26th July, 2005

Further reading
Giorgi and Longobardi The Syntax of Noun Phrases, Cambridge University Press
Miller and Weinert Spontaneous Spoken Discourse, Oxford University Press