[etni] Encouraging English Speech in Class
- From: Avraham Roos <avrahamroos@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:51:29 +0200
Hi All,
My students (studying to become English teachers) asked me for practical
tips on how to encourage use of spoken English in class. They complain that
whenever an oral task (e.g. pairwork) is given, their pupils quickly switch
over to doing the task in Hebrew. I gave them the following guidelines but
would be interested to get some additional ideas.
1. First and foremost make sure your pupils understand that only by
practicing oral English use, will they become proficient in it. They need
to understand that they use the target language not because *you *demand it
but because *they *need it.
2. Bring in native speakers. I have experience with volunteers (elderly
ladies, etc.) who were willing to come half an hour a week to chat with
pupils. At the beginning I would leave the topic open to their choice but I
found that giving the native speaker/ pupil pair a page with a guided task
or topic to talk about works much better. In cases where I could not find
volunteers, I "volunteered" native speaker pupils from other classes to sit
with my students once in a while (especially as preparation for oral
bagrut).
3. In pairwork you could introduce a third pupil as monitor. His/ her task
is to tally how much Hebrew is used to complete the task. I personally do
not like this "spy" task so much but it does work. I have heard of teachers
who use the "divide and conquer" technique: Split up the class in groups,
create a competitive atmosphere with points and prizes. Take off points for
Hebrew use and have groups tell on each other if they hear use of Hebrew in
other groups. Not really my cup of tea but it seems to work.
4. Tell pupils that at the end of the activity you will invite one pair in
front of the class to reenact their pair activity. They should therefore
see the pair activity as a practice run for their "performance".
Who has some additional creative ideas?
Avraham Roos
--
"When one teaches, two learn"
Robert Heinlein (American science-fiction writer,1907-1988)
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