Speaking
Notes from the seminar
The activity presented by our teacher was excellent because she didn't say a word but still was able to manage the whole class. I have never seen this kind of activity. What I really appreciated was the fact that every student had to speak even more than twice during the activity. Moreover, I am the one who is not very brave when comes to the speaking but this time I was somehow encouraged by the activity that it was quite easy to start talking. It was well prepared but I must say that to prepare the activity must have taken a lot of time. On the other hand, when the activity is created you can use it many times in different classrooms and never disappoint your students.
In "Microteaching" group there was Jana leading the group so I was absolutely sure that it would be a great teaching. Not only is she an excellent teacher but also a great person with positive attitude. She also divided her teaching into some stages and she paid speacial attention to each student in order to make them talk. I am sure that good English teaching is about experience but some teachers just have a gift and they are able to create so positive atmosphere that there is no room for shyness. This is a fundamental aspect especially when teaching speaking.
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What makes me speak in English lessons?
I must admit that the most importamore than I and he negatively comments when somebody in the classroom makes a mistake while speaking. On the other hand, it is also beneficial for my own teaching, because when I see somebody doing that in my classroom I bring a quick end to it. I go up to him and ask him the same question - mostly it's enough to do it twice and then the intruder understands that there is no room for this kind of behaviour. I also very often highlight that I admire those students who are so brave and try to speak even when they know that they will make a mistake. So, it's obvious that the teacher is the one who can help his/her students with speaking during a class.
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Fluency and accuracy activities
Fluency activities:
Source: Osama, Nouran. "Talk for a Minute." Busy Teacher. N.p., 2013. Web. 28 Dec. 2016.
Accuracy activities:
The first activity I use with my students when focusing on accuracy is the simplest one. I just create a list of sentences (according to what is needed to be learned) and say the sentences aloud - the students have to repeat the sentences after me.
Accuracy speaking activity.pdf
Switch between accuracy and fluency - activity
My favourite speaking activities
´Here is a link with some Ur's suggestions to speaking activities and an excellent video with Ur's ideas.
www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2015/01/penny-ur-get-talk-dont-want/
My favourite speaking actiities are those connected with fluency. I understand that accuracy speaking activities are aslo very important to teach but I more enjoy fluency activities. I hold the idea that speaking activities should attract students' attention, they should be also funny and somehow connected with students' life. That's another reason the teacher should know his/her students as much as possible in order to choose appropriate activities for the students. So, I like activities like play-roles, improvisation etc. But what I like the most are the activities where students have to talk in real-life situations. I went for a walk with my students and I asked them simple question about things we could see during our walk. Moreover, I would like to do speaking activity when preparing a lunch or a dinner with my students but it wasn't possible to do the activity in our classroom. On the other other hand, I can imagine doing the activity at elementary school with children. It must be funny and very useful for improving their English speaking.
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