So lets get your students talking!

1. Focus on Fluency Remember that while its important for students to be accurate with their grammar, especially
when learning how to use a new phrase or grammar point, you dont want to focus too much on accuracy during a
speaking exercise.
2. Focus on Intelligibility When deciding which mistakes to correct in a fluency exercise, a good rule of thumb is
to choose only those that actually hinder the students ability to be understood (intelligibility). In a fluency activity, as
long as the student can get his or her point across, that is what matters.
3. TPR Total Physical Response Adults and children alike need some movement now and then to get the
oxygen to the brain and maintain attention levels. If your students seem a little lethargic, incorporate more activities
with movement into your lessons, such as Charades, Running Dictations, or Mill Drills. Often times, just having
students stand up and switch partners/seats can be enough to get everyone talking again.
4. Switch Groupings Often Make sure to pair your students with different partners and change often so they are
not always speaking to the same person. Also make sure to mix up your tasks so sometimes students speak in pairs,
groups, as a whole class, and directly with you.
5. Praise! Praise Praise! Always praise your students efforts to speak, especially those who are more reluctant.
Let them know you, and their classmates, appreciate any and all contributions they make.
6. Give Time to Prepare Imagine you are a student and the teacher asks you What would you do with a million
dollars? your immediate answer would probably be umuhIm not sure Think carefully about the questions
youre asking and if its not something that can be easily answered right away make sure to give students a minute to
think about their answer first.
7. Talk Little. Listen Much. Always watch your own TTT ( Teacher Talking Time) and make sure youre not putting
too much focus on yourself at the expense of student talking time. Teachers need to find the balance between
providing good quality input to enhance our students listening skills and spending too much time talking to them.
8. The Art of Good Conversation Hone your own conversation skills by making sure to ask students a lot of
questions and keep class dialogue going by listening carefully to student responses and asking more questions
based on what theyve said.