The Speaking Lesson

What does it mean to do a speaking lesson on Teaching Practice?

Firstly,it means that you set up a structured/guided activity that requires the students to engage each other. This is very important for your success. Student-Student interaction patterns.

Teacher-Student interaction is important but it is not a speaking activity. When the teacher asks a question and the student answers that does not count as a speaking activity.

Students can be in pairs or even groups of four. They can do a speaking activity or a game.

One of the basic ideas behind a structured activity is that they must ask and answer questions that have some purpose behind them. This means that one student has information and the other student needs to ask questions to get the information. This is called an information gap activity. It is very helpful to give some reason to interact.

Example Dialog during a lesson about workers.

Here is a picture about workers:

Imagine a lesson that you are doing about different types of workers:

Each student has a picture.

Example dialog:

S1: Is there a fireman?

S2: Yes, there is.

S1: What's his job?

S2: He fights fires.

S1: Is there a policeman?

S2: Yes, there is.

S1: What's his job?

S2: He fights crime.

This is a simple dialog, but it shows that they are looking at the page and asking questions. This means they are deciding which picture to look at and asking questions so they can talk. However, they are talking in a very structured way. We must start somewhere.

Or, a dialog could go likes this:

S1: This person fights fires. What is he?

S2: He is a fireman.

S1: This person helps students. What is she?

S2: She is a teacher.

These are simple examples, but the main idea is that students engage students and dialog in a structured way where certain language as the goal.

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=2920

For example, what if the goal language was 'there is" and 'there are' ?

Here is a basic example of a dialog that might be appropriate in elementary school using this picture:

S1: Do you see some toys?

S2: Yes, there are toys on the table.

S1: Do you see some books?

S2: Yes, there are some books in the corner.

Of course, the vocabulary and grammar in the activity will depend on the students and what they can do. But, the idea is to teach them the structures and vocabulary and then give them a chance to use it with each other. As students learn more language you can get them to have more complex conversations. But we must start somewhere.

There are many ways to do a speaking lesson, but Student-Student interaction patterns is the ultimate goal.

What if you were doing a lesson on prepositions? E.g. -- across from, near, next to...

Each student can have a map that is slightly different and they have to tell each other where things are.

S1: Where is the high school?

S2: It is near the post office.

S1: Where is the bus station?

S2: It is across from the law courts.

The same pattern exists. That is, one student wants to get information from another. They are engaging each other.

Be creative and help them talk to each other.

Best of luck!