Applying communicative activities to teach apeaking skills to 11th form students

An integration to speaking skill 06 2.1.The position of speaking skill 06 2.2.The characteristic of speaking classes 07 3.1.Communicative activity versus non-communicative activity 07 3.

Chapter I: Theoretical preliminaries 04

1 The communicative language teaching 04

1.1. Leaner - Centered instruction 04

1.2. Cooperative and collaborative learning 041.3. Interactive learning 05

1.4 Content - based and task- based instruction 05

2 An integration to speaking skill 06

2.1.The position of speaking skill 06 2.2.The characteristic of speaking classes 07

3.1.Communicative activity versus non-communicative activity 07 3.2.Purposes of communicative activities 08

3.2.1.Communicative activities improve motivation 09 3.2.2 Communicative activities allow natural learning 09 3.2.3 Communicative activities can create a context which

supports learning 09

3.2.4 Communicative activities give whole-task practice“ ” 09

3.3.Types of communicative activities in language teaching 09 3.3.1.Information and motivation stage 10

3.3.2.Input stage 10 3.3.3.Focus stage 11 3.3.4.Application stage 11 Chapter II : Types of Communicative activities used in speaking classes 13 1 Activity 13 2 Types of Communicative activities used in speaking class 14

2.1 Meaningful Drills 14 2.2 Exchanging information 19 2.2.1 Information Gap activities 19 2.2.2 Exchanging personal information 22 2.3.Communicative Games 24 2.3.1 Finding the differences (similarities) 24 2.3.2 Describing and arranging 25 2.3.3 Story reconstruction 26 2.3.4 Guessing Games 27 2.4.Discussion 28 2.4.1 The buzz group 29 2.4.2.Controversial topic 30 2.4.3 The debate 30 2.5.Reaching a consensus activity 31

2.5.1 Going to New York 31

2.5.2 Moral dilemmas 32

2.6.Replaying instruction 33

Chapter III : Applying communicative activities to develop the 11 th

1 General characteristics of students at secondary schools 39

2.The state of using communicative activities in teaching speaking at

3 Some suggested communicative activities to teach the 11 th form

4.Techniques to help the 11 th form students correct speaking errors 46

4.1 Common speaking errors made by the 11 th form students 46 4.2 Techniques for correcting speaking errors 48

Part I : INTRODUCTION

1 Reasons for choosing the subject

Open-door policy of many countries’ governments has been giving people manychances to learn and practise English Nowadays, people all over the world learnEnglish; therefore, English has become necessary for a lot of people at different socialpositions However, how to learn and how to teach English in general and speakingskills in particular is still a discussing matter

For most people, the ability to speak a language is synonymous with knowingthat language since speech is the most basic means of human communication TheCommunicative Approach teaching requires to develop language learners’ four skills:speaking, listening, reading and writing Nevertheless “speaking in a second or foreignlanguage has often been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills.” (Bailey andSavage,Teach English as a Second Language 1994 _ 449) And again, according toBailey and Savage “speaking is an activity requiring the integration of manysubsystems all these factors continue to make speaking a second or foreignlanguage a formidable task for language learners Yet for many people, speaking isseen as the central skill” For that reason, we would like to particularly study how tohelp teachers to develop their students’ speaking skill

Of course, there are many ways to develop learners’ speaking skill, however,it’s still discussing to choose an appropriate way to teach Today we’re trying to teachEnglish in a communicative way followed learner-centered instruction; communicativeactivities are certainly becoming essential part in language teaching, however, to manyteachers in secondary schools, communicative activities are still very strange Theyonly teach their students speaking skill based mainly on the textbooks throughmechanical drills Therefore, we found it interesting and useful to have a specificresearch into the communicative activities, we think that we can make use of

communicative activities to teach speaking skill because communicative activities cansomehow involve students in and give them both a desire to communicate and apurpose which involves them in a varied use of language They improve learners’motivation to learn in a natural learning, they can create a context which supportlearning process, finally, they give a “whole-task” practice…for this reason, they’reuseful and helpful for teachers in secondary schools to teach their students speakingskills.

For the reasons above, we decided to choose the topic ’Applying

Communicative activities to teach speaking skill to 11 th form students’ as the

study of our graduation thesis

2 Aims of study

The aims of our study are:

- To systematize communicative activities that can be used in a speaking class

- To distinguish between communicative activities and non-communicativeactivities

- To suggest some typical communicative activities to teach speaking skill insome lessons in 11th form textbook

- To investigate common speaking errors that students often make when usingcommunicative activities and techniques to correct students’ speaking errors

3 Scope of study

The study covers speaking skill and communicative activities However, we justconcentrate on types of communicative activities which can be used in speakingclasses, i.e., we try to divide them into different groups according to theircharacteristics and the level of difficulty

The study also suggests some typical communicative activities to teachspeaking skills in some lessons of 11th form textbook and techniques to correctstudents’ speaking errors

4 Method of study

A lot of methods were used while we were doing this research but the main ones are descriptive method, collecting method, analytic method, synthetic method,observing, doing survey, etc

The Development consists of three chapters:

Chapter I : Theoretical preliminaries.

Chapter II : Types of communicative activities used in speaking classes Chapter III : Applying communicative activities to develop the 11th formstudents’ speaking skill

References

Part II : development

Chapter I: theoretical preliminaries

1 The communicative language teaching

Closely allied to communicative language teaching are a number of conceptsthat have, like communicative language, become bandwagon terms without theendorsement of which teachers can’t be decent human beings and textbooks cannotsell, so in the communicative language teaching we have to be aware of giving lipservice to principles of communicative language teaching Hence a brief summary isappropriate

1.1 Learner- centered Instruction

According to H.Douglas Brown, Learner-centered instruction includes:

 Techniques that focus on or account for learners’ needs, styles and goals

 Techniques that give some control to the students (group work or strategytraining, for example)

 Curricula that include the consultation and input of students and that do notpresuppose objectives in advance

 Techniques that allow for students creativity and innovation

 Techniques that enhance a student’s sense of competence and self-worth

1.2 Cooperative and collaborative learning

As students work together in pairs and groups, they share information and come

to each other’s aid They are a “team” whose players must work together in order toachieve goals successfully Research has shown an advantage for cooperative learning(as opposed to individual learning) on such factors as “ promoting intrinsicmotivation heightening self-esteem creating caring and altruistic relationship andlowering anxiety and prejudice” (Oxford 1997 : 445) Cooperative learning does notmerely imply collaboration To be sure, in a cooperative classroom, the students andteacher work together to persue goals and objectives But cooperative learning is

“more structured, more prescriptive to teachers about classroom techniques, moredirective to students about how to work together in groups than collaborative learning”(Oxford 1997 - 443).

1.3 Interactive learning

At the heart of current theories of communicative competence is the essentiallyinteractive nature of communication when you speak; for example, the extent to whichyour intended message is received is a factor of both your production and the listener’sreception Most meaning, in a semantic sense is a product of negotiation of give andtake, as interlocutors attempt to communicate Thus, the communicative purpose oflanguage compels us to create opportunities for genuine interaction in the classroom

An interactive cause or technique will provide for such negotiation Interactive classeswill most likely be found

• Doing a significant amount of pair work and group work

• Receiving authentic language input in real world context

• Producing language for genuine, meaningful communication

• Performing classroom tasks that prepare for actual language use “out there”

• Practising oral communication through the give and take and spontaneity of actual conversation

• Writing to and for real audience, not contrived ones

1.4 Content based and task based instruction.

According to Brinton, Snaw and Wesche – 1989 (Teaching by principles,

H.Douglas Brown - 149) “Content-based instruction is the integration of content

learning with language teaching aim More specifically, it refers to the concurrentstudy of language and subject matter with the form and sequence of languagepresentation dictated by content material

While there is a good deal of variation among experts on how to describe or

define task Brinton’s concept of “task” seems to capture the essentials He definestask as an activity in which:

- Meaning is primary

- There is some communication problem to solve

- There is some sort of relationship to comparable real- world activity

- Task completion has some priority

2 An integration to speaking skill

Speaking in second language involves the development of a particular type ofcommunication skills Oral language, because of its circumstance of production, tends

to differ from written language in its typical grammatical, lexical and discoursepatterns In addition, some of the processing skills needed in speaking differ fromthose involved in reading and writing

2.1 The position of speaking skill in second language learning

For most people, the ability to speak a language is synonymous withknowing that language since speech is the most basic means of humancommunication Nevertheless “Speaking in second language or foreign language hasoften been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills” (Bailey and Savage,TeachEnglish as a Second Language: 1994 )

Speaking skill has not always figured so centrally in second and foreignlanguage pedagogy In classes that utilize comprehension-based approaches tolanguage teaching, listening skills are stressed before speaking Even in a production-based approach such as silent way student’s speech is carefully controlled for structureand content And while audiolingualism stressed speaking skill (evidenced by theamount of time spent in the language laboratory practising skill.), speech productionwas tightly controlled in order to reinforce correct habit formation of linguistic rules

2.2 The characteristics of a speaking class

In deciding how to structure and what to teach in a speaking class, questionssuch as the following should be considered: who are the students? Why are they there? What do they expect to learn? What am I (the teacher) expected to teach?

One basic consideration is the level of the students and their perceivedneeds; level may be determined by a placement test administered by the institution or

by a diagnostic test given by the teacher Information on learners’ needs can beobtained by means of a student’s information sheet on which they report the amount oftime they spend speaking English, their future goals, their goals for course and theiroverall speaking ability, confidence in speaking English

Nowadays, speaking classes at all levels are often structured aroundfunctional uses of language In low-level contexts, these might involve basic greetings,talking on the telephone, interacting with school personnel, shopping students learn

to introduce themselves and greet other people, give and request personal information,direction and prices, talk about family members, tell time, give and accept invitation,describe clothing and give and accept compliments

3 The communication continuum

Where students are working on an output stage with an emphasis oncommunication, we can use our generalizations about the nature of communication tocome to a number of conclusions

3.1 Communicative activity versus non-communicative activity

Whatever activity the students are involved in, if it is to be genuinelycommunicative and it is really promoting language use, the students should havedesire to communicate If they do not want to be involved in communication then thatcommunication will probably not be effective The students should have some kinds ofcommunicative purposes In other words, they should be using language in some ways

to achieve an objective The students, however, will have to deal with a variety oflanguage rather than just one grammatical construction, for example, while the

students are engaged in communicative activities the teacher should not intervene By

‘intervening” we mean telling students that they are making mistakes, insisting onaccuracy and asking for repetition etc This would undermine the communicativepurpose of the activity The teacher may, of course, involve in the activity as aparticipant and will also be watching and listening carefully in order to be able toconduct feedback

Thus for non-communicative activities there will be no desire to communicate

on the part of the students and they will have no communicative purpose In otherwords, where students are involved in a repetition, they will be motivated not by adesire to reach a communicative objective but by the need to reach the objective ofaccuracy The emphasis is on the form of language, not its content, often only onelanguage item will be the specially designed to focus on a restricted amount oflanguage A lot of language presentation techniques have these characteristics

We can summarize the points we have made:

Non-communicative activities Communicative activities

3.2 Purposes of communicative activities

3.2.1 Communicative activities improve motivation

The learners’ ultimate objective is to take part in communication with others.Their motivation to learn is more likely to be sustained if they can see how theirclassroom learning is related to this objective and helps them to achieve it withincreasing success

3.2.2 Communicative activities allow natural learning

- No communicative desire

- No communicative purpose

- Form not content

- One language item

Language learning takes place inside the learners and, as teacher knows,many aspects of it are beyond their pedagogical control It is likely, in fact, that manyaspects of language learning can take place only through natural process, whichoperates when a person is involved in using the language for communication.

3.2.3 Communicative activities can create a context which supports learning

Communicative activities provide opportunities for positive personalrelationships to develop among learners and between learners and teachers Theserelationships can help to “humanize” the classroom and to create an environment thatsupports the individual in his efforts to learn

3.2.4 Communicative activities can give ’Whole-task’ practice

Learning how to swim, for example, usually involves not only separatepractice of individual movements (part-skills) but also actual attempts to swim shortdistance (whole task practice) In foreign language learning, our means for providinglearners with “whole-task practice” in the classroom is through various kinds ofcommunicative activities, structured in order to suit the learners’ level of ability

3.3 Types of communicative activities in language teaching

Probably the most commonly used and general term for the part of a lesson isactivity Most teachers will use this word in discussing their lesson plans andbehaviors, although specific activities often have particular names In much recentanalysis of second language classroom, materials and syllable, the term “task” hasbeen used to discuss those less controlled activities which produce in realistic use ofthe second language

In discussing both controlled and freer types of classroom learning procedures,

we will utilize ’ activity’ as a broader term, Valcarcel-1995 (Teaching English as a

second or foreign language- Marianne Celce - Murcia) has developed a tentative

list of activity types according to four stages of instructional sequencing in lesson

3.3.1 Information and motivation stage

3.3.1.1.Warm_up

Mime, dance, song, joke, play,etc…the purpose of these is to get the studentsstimulated, relaxed, motivated, attentive or otherwise engaged and ready for the classroom lesson, not necessarily related to the target language.

3.3.1.2 Story telling.

Oral presentation by the teacher of a story or an event as lengthy practice,although not necessarily lesson-based it implies the use of extended discourse, itusually aims at maintaining attention or motivation and is often entertaining

3.3.1.3.Brainstorming.

Free, undirected contributions by the students and the teacher on a given topic

to generate multiple associations without linking them, no explicit analysis orinterpretation is given by the teacher

3.3.1.4 A propos

Conversation and other socially oriented interaction /speech by teachers,students or even visitors on general real life topics, typically authentic and genuine

3.3.2 Input /control stage

3.3.2.1 Role play demonstration.

The use of selected students or teacher to illustrate the procedure to be applied

in the following lesson segment; it includes brief illustration of language or othercontent to be incorporated

3.3.2.2 Dialogues/narrative presentations

Reading or listening passage in the form of dialogues, narratives, songs forpassive reception (students become familiar with the text without being asked toperform any task related to the content); it usually implies students’ listening to a tape

or the teacher reading aloud while students follow with or without the text

Teacher-lead review of previous week/month or other period; a formal summaryand assessment of students’ recall and performance

Language activity involves exchange of a limited number of fixed patterns

of interaction; distinguished from mechanical drills in that students have to make achoice with respect to the meaning convey

3.3.3.3 Game.

Organized language activity that has a particular task or objective and a set

of rules which involves an element of competition between players (eg: boardgame, hangman, bingo ) It usually implies entertainment and relaxation.

3.3.4 Transfer/Application stage

3.3.4.1 Role play

Students act out specified roles and functions in a relatively free way;distinguished from cued dialogue by the cueing being provided only minimally at thebeginning not during the activity

3.3.4.4.Problem solving

Students work out on an activity in which a problem and some limitation onmeans are established, it requires cooperative action on the part of the participant insmall or large groups in order to reach a solution only one outcome sometimes amongother possible solutions is allowed per group

3.3.4.5.Simulation

Activity that involves complex interaction between groups and individualsbased on simulation of real life actions and experiences

Chapter II: types of communicative activities

used in speaking classes

1 The activity

“Activity” is a loose term used to give a general description of what will happen

in a class It is important to realize that here we are not talking in anyway about items

of language; we are talking about what, generally and physically, the students aregoing to do (Teaching English as a second or foreign language- Marianne Celce -

Murcia)

A game is an activity, so is an oral composition When being asked: “What are you going to do in class today?”, rather than give details they will often say: Oh,“

I ve got a group discussion task and then we re going to do a game .’ ’ ”

It will be necessary to consider activities not only on the basis of what thestudents have been doing recently but also in terms of the class period itself Activitiesare considered as a starting point for lesson planning that the teacher can ensure amotivating balance of type

Communicative activities are those which exhibit the characteristics at the

communicative end of our continuums, students are somehow involved in activitiesthat give them both the desire to communicate and a purpose which involves them in avaried use of language Such activities are vital in a language classroom since here thestudents can do their best to use the language as individuals, arriving at a degree oflanguage autonomy (the Practice of English Language Teaching ’ Jeremy

Harmer - 41)

In the classroom, in general, the aim will be to provide a sequence that is variedand does not follow one activity with a completely similar activity and then follow thatwith one that is the same

The decision about what activities are to be included in a lesson is a vital firstpart in the planning process The teacher is forced to consider, above all, what would

be most beneficial and motivating for the students.

2 Types of communicative activities can be used in speaking classes

Communicative activities used in speaking class can vary from activity to

activity However, activities are often designed to provoke spoken communicationamong students or between teacher and students Based on the level of difficulty of theactivity and the students’ motivation, we can integrate into communicative activitytypes

2.1 Meaningful drills

Drills are useful in practising constant language features especially as the firststep in the learning sequence It is generally believed that students learn best fromtheir success not from their failure

Drills often focus on specific and isolated language patterns which might not beimmediately apparent to the students from his own experience in the language Whatmust be stated emphatically is that drills are not an end in themselves but means to anend-natural communication We must not only dissect language by drillingsystematically in patterns but we must also rebuild language in the context ofcomplex, natural conversations If the students understand the drill, they are likely toacquire a basic foundation of patterns which can be extended and manipulated in laterpattern practice drills and which finally can be applied and shaped to the situationalcontext simulated in the classroom

Some types of meaningful drills are:

2.1.1 (Four) phase drill

(Four) phase drill is so-called because they are four-phases or stages:

E.g : Question-Answer-Question-Answer

The reason why “four” is in bracket is of course because we can also have six oreight phase drills or any number, for that matter, although four seems to be the mostuseable The students are encouraged to ask a question and on the basic of the answerfollow it up with another question

E.g.: A: Is Nam English?

B: No, he isn t.’

A: Where is he from, then?

B: He is Vietnamese

In this case the drill is designed for beginners to practise the question form: ’ Is

X (nationality)? And ’where is he/she from’.

We can start the activity by showing flashcards of people with some indication

of their nationality We then conduct a cue response drill in which students askquestion such as “Is Nam English?”

Teacher : Question Mai French (nominate student 1)

Student1: Is Mai French?

Teacher: Answer Lan

Student2: No, she isn’t etc’

We can then move on to the next question adding the word ”then “ if the answer

to the first question is negative

E.g.:

T : Good ask someone a question with where “ “

S4 :Where is she from?’

T : Good but you can say where s she from, then? so ask again “ ’ ”

L©m

S4 : Where s she from, then?’

T : Answer, Ba

S2 : She is from English

The teacher conducts this drill with the whole class for a short space of time andthe students then practise the drill in pairs The teacher can give them flashcards orthey can think of famous people to ask about

Of course, four-phase drills can be constructed with any question sequence

E.g.: A: What s your favorite hobby’ ?

B: Tennis.

A: How often do you play?

B: once a week

Four-phase drills are useful for practice and revision of specific question formsand can be successfully used for quick five-minute sessions after these questions havebeen introduced , perhaps in a previous class

2.1.2 Frequency of activities drill

In this drill students work with a specially prepared set of flashcards The cardsshow various activities taking place

Students are put into groups of four and a set of flashcards is placed in front ofthem, face downward A student picks up a card and has to ask another student howoften a relative of that student performs the activity shown on the card The drill might

go in the following way

S1: (picks up a card showing a man doing the washing-up)

- How often does your brother do the washing-up, Nhung?

S2: Twice a day, I think (picks up card showing someone playing football)

- How often does your mother play football, Nhung?

S3: She doesn t play at all’ (Pick up a card showing a person getting on the bus)

- How often does your sister travel by bus Hoa?

S4: Never She always gets me to drive her everywhere

This is a simple cue-response drill, but students are conducting the drillthemselves rather than being controlled by the teacher The random selection of thecards makes the drills enjoyable and quite challenging and the use of group workmeans that many students get a chance to participate in a cooperative and friendlyway

Cards of this kind have a use in many kinds of drill activities where studentscan practise specific items of language without being inhibited by the teacher

2.1.3 Transformation drill

The transformation type asks the students to transform a sentence in response to

a signal word When the drill is conducted orally, cues for transformation are oftengiven verbally, but tense changes can be signaled by a backward or a forward gesture

E.g.:

T: I travel to work by bus

S: I travel to work by bus

Student 1 : Tell us about your brother, Nam?

Nam : He used to be a good footballer, but now he doesn t play ’

anymore L©m, tell us something about your uncle

L©m : He used to drive a taxi Now he drives a cyclo Mai’

The student next to her then says: Her name is Mary and she d like to travel” ’

around the world My name is Paul and I want to write novel.”

The third student then has to remember the first two speakers’ ambitions thengive his or her own

2.1.4.1 The action drill

The teacher starts by performing or dramatizing a sequence of actions and

by asking the students to state what he is doing

(Opens the door and asks)

“What am I doing now?” You re opening the door’

After the students understand the drill, the teacher will then ask a good student

to perform the sequence of actions for the rest of the class The demonstrating studentdescribes what he is doing and asks the class questions about what he is doing or hasdone The class asks him questions and tells teacher what has happened

2.1.4.1 The conditional chain drill

This drill must be thoroughly demonstrated before the students can be expected

to produce it The teacher describes a situation and explains possible consequences ofit

E.g.: My wife has just had twins Now our apartment is not big enough for us We“

might move to a bigger apartment or buy a house If we decide to buy a house, we ll’

need some money.”

- If we need some money If you need some money, you ll go’

to a bank.

- If we go to the bank If you go to the bank, you

2.1.4.2 The Question-Answer chain

This drill is a step in the direction of free conversation, so the drill will go in

this way E.g:

T : Where does NguyÖt live?

S1:I don t know where he lives, perhaps L©m can tell me, where does NguyÖt’

live?

S2: NguyÖt lives on Ng H¶i Street.

S1: L©m just told me that NguyÖt lives on Ng H¶i Street

T : Thank you’

2.2 Exchanging information

2.2.1 Information gap activities

With information gap activities, different students are given different bits ofinformation By sharing this information they can complete the task Manycommunicative activities are designed to be done by students working in pairs or ingroups to create a need to communicate, the students in each pair or group are givendifferent information The activity can then work in various ways:

 One student has some information and the other student has to find it out by asking questions

 One student has some information and tells it to the other student

 Both students have different information and they tell each other

2.2.1.1 Picture dictation

Students work in pairs Each student has information (a picture, a text, a story, aworksheet ) which is different from their partner’s Students do not show theirpartners the differences It’s a secret Often the teacher puts the students back to back

so that they cannot “look” There is a “gap” between what the students know whichprovides students with a purpose for talking Students can only find out what theirpartner has by talking and asking questions

For example:

Target item: Farm vocabulary and preposition of place

A: There s a man in a field.’ B: Where s the field?’

A: Next to the house

Students fold the piece of paper in half In the top half they draw a picture.In thebottom half they draw their friend’s picture Students sit back to back, student Adescribes his/her picture and student B draws it and asks questions then they swap rolestudent B describes and student A draws and asks Feedback is done by gettingstudents to compare original picture with dictated one The pair with the closestlikeness is the winner

2.2.1.1 Pair work gaps fill

The teacher puts up two posters - one at either end of the classroom Students sit

in row, first row facing the back wall, second row facing the board…Students ask eachother questions and “fill in” the information they don’t have

For example:

Poster1 (student A) Poster 2 (student B)

Students will ask each other questions like:

Le Van Tam was a 20 th century

hero He lived in Sai Gon He

sold peanut He found out

about the French army, then he

gave the ………to the

Vietnamese army He put

on fire He blew up the place where the French kept their guns and ammunition.

B: Who was Le Van Tam?

A: He was a 20 th century hero.

B: Where did he live? etc

2.2.1.3 Pair work gap grid

Students sit in pairs, in each pair student A has an empty grid and student B hasthe text, which he or she doesn’t show to student A student A completes the grid byasking questions

Student A will have to complete the grid by asking student B questions

Example: what s he going to do tomorrow morning? Why? ’

What is he going to do tomorrow evening? etc

2.2.1.4 Shopping

Students sit in pairs In each pair student A is a customer and has a shoppinglist Student B is a shop assistant and has a list of items in the shop and their prices.They do not look at each other’s list Student A tries to “ buy” the things on his or her

A: Have you got any tea?

With information gap activity, it provides intensive and interesting languagepractice Although the exercises are quite controlled and use simple language Thestudents are really exchanging information and using language communicatively

2.2.2 Exchanging personal information

One of the easiest and most interesting forms of communicative activity inclassroom is for students to tell each other about their own lives, interests, experiences,etc when students talk about themselves, there is a natural “information” becauseeverybody has something slightly different to say

2.2.2.1 Daily routine

Students are genuinely communicating (finding out things from each other thatthey did not know already and which they need to know in order to complete the grid),completing the grid is an essential part of the activity

own) When most pairs have finished the activity, ask a few students to tell what theirpartner does

Example: She gets up at seven o clock, and then she has tea and bread for ’

breakfast

2.2.2.2 Personal Name

The teacher puts the students into pairs and asks them to tell each other:

- How they feel about their first name (Do they like it? why they like, Why not? )

- What name they would choose for themselves if they had to choose one that was different from the one they have and why?

Clearly, this activity is very simple, but it demonstrates the advantages of

“talking about yourself”, many people have strong opinions about their names andfrom such simple questions, an interesting personal discussion can develop

2.2.2.3 Musical association

In this activity the teacher encourages the students to use the title of a song toprovide discussion of feeling and memories…etc …

Stage 1: The teacher asks the students to write down the name of a song which

they like It can be a pop song, a folk song They should not show this title to anyoneelse for the moment

Stage 2 : The teacher then tells the students that they are going to discuss the song

with partner They should tell their partner the title of this song and the following

- How the song makes them feel.

- What the song makes them think of.

- What the song makes them feel like doing

Stage 3 : When the students have had enough time to tell each other about their

songs, the teacher can ask if any one heard anything particularly interesting that theywould like to share with the group

Summary:

Any activities, which invite students to share themselves with others – eventhough they are fairly like the ones here, should be done in a calm and supportiveatmosphere Teacher must decide whether students want to do activities like this andhow far they should be encouraged to reveal their feeling

2.3 Communicative games

Games are vital part of a teacher’s equipment, not only for the language practicethey provide, but also for the therapeutic effect they have They can be used at anystages in a class to provide amusing and challenging respite from the other classroomactivity and are especially useful at the end of a long day to send the students away thefeeling cheerful about their English class and game is also a very important activity indeveloping speaking skill for students in class

Communicative games are based on the principle of the information gapstudents are put into situations in which they have to use all or any of language

they possess to complete a game task Here are some typical communicative gamescan be used in a speaking class

2.3.1 Finding the differences (or similarities)

Students are put into pairs In each pair, student A is given a picture and student

B is given a picture which is similar but different in some vital aspects They are toldthat they must not look at each other’s material but they must find out a certainnumber of differences between the two pictures through discussion only

2.3.2 Describing and arranging