Kingdom of Bahrain

Ministry of Education
Directorate of Curricula
English Language Unit (Basic Education)

Prepared by Mr. Emad Abdulla Al Sediri

Supervised by Dr. Nawal Al Khaja
Do you think that students
are good at speaking?
 Students’
Motivation

Classroom
Mother Tongue
Handicaps

Factors

Teachers’
Textbook
Motivation

Bad Habits
• To develop teachers’ ability to teach
speaking
• To develop students’ oral proficiency
• Speaking is "the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal
and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of
contexts" (Chaney, 1998, p. 13).

meaning contexts
contexts
 meaning contexts
• Feelings
• Opinions
• Personal details
• Functions: • Formal
1- Giving advice • Informal
2- Expressing hope • At home
3- Telling stories • At school
• Daily routines • In the street
• Describing: • On holiday
1- People • At a mall
2- Places • A situation
3- Objects
4- Habits
 Do You know that ? ? ?
Many language learners regard speaking
ability as the measure of knowing a
language.
 Do You know that ? ? ?

They regard speaking as the most important

skill they can acquire, and they assess their
progress in terms of their accomplishments
in spoken communication.
 The main issues are:
- First Part:
Despite its importance, for many years, teaching
speaking has been undervalued.

- Second Part:
English language teachers have continued to
teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or
memorization of dialogues.
 No Interaction
No Communication

No Information Exchange

No Transaction
No Negotiation
What Makes a Good Speaker?
 Teacher Activity

Characteristics of a good language speaker

1-
2-
3-
4- 5 mn
• While speaking, we expect our students to be able to:

• Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns

• Use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the
rhythm of the second language.
• Select appropriate words and sentences according to the
proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter.
• Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical
sequence.
• Use language as a means of expressing values and
judgments.
• Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural
pauses, which is called as fluency. (Nunan, 2003)

The above mentioned criteria are also

the same criteria we use to test students’ ability to speak
 How do we teach speaking?

A sample speaking activity

Tense: Present Simple
Think about an activity
Materials

Context

Meaning / Function

5 mn
 Teacher Activity

What do students need to talk fluently?

1-
2-
3-
4-
5-

5 mn
• Teachers have to provide authentic practice that
prepares students for real-life communication
situations. (Practise speaking in class)

• They have to help their students develop the ability

to produce grammatically correct, logically
connected sentences that are appropriate to
specific contexts, and to do so using acceptable
(that is, comprehensible) pronunciation.
Teach Vocabulary
Teach Grammar
Teach Pronunciation / Intonation
Equip them with everything they need to
speak confidently and fluently.
 Provide real-life situations

• Teachers should create a classroom environment

where students have real-life communication,
authentic activities, and meaningful tasks that
promote oral language. This can occur when
students collaborate in groups to achieve a goal
or to complete a task.
 Activities that
Promote Speaking

Tactics for Speaking

 Teacher Activity

Activities that Promote Speaking

1-
2-
3-
4- 5 mn
 Discussions
• After a content-based lesson, a discussion can be held
for various reasons. The students may aim to arrive at a
conclusion, share ideas about an event, or find solutions
in their discussion groups. Before the discussion, it is
essential that the purpose of the discussion activity is set
by the teacher.
 Role Play
• The teacher gives information to the learners
such as who they are and what they think or
feel. Thus, the teacher can tell the student that
"You are David, you go to the doctor and tell him
what happened last night, and…" (Harmer,
1984)
 Simulations

• Simulations are very similar to role-plays

but what makes simulations different
than role plays is that they are more
elaborate. In simulations, students can
bring items to the class to create a
realistic environment. For instance, if a
student is acting as a president, he/she
wears a suit and brings a microphone to
deliver his speech. Role plays and
simulations have many advantages.

• Such activities motivate the students

and increase the self-confidence of
hesitant students.
 Information Gap
• Students are supposed to be working
in pairs.
• One student will have the information
that other partner does not have and
the partners will share their
information.
• Information gap activities serve many
purposes such as solving a problem or
collecting information. Also, each
partner plays an important role
because the task cannot be completed
if the partners do not provide the
information the others need.
• These activities are effective because
everybody has the opportunity to talk
extensively in the target language.
 Brainstorming

• On a given topic, students can

produce ideas in a limited time.
Depending on the context, either
individual or group brainstorming is
effective and learners generate
ideas quickly and freely.
• The good characteristics of
brainstorming is that the students
are not criticized for their ideas so
students will be open to sharing
new ideas.
 Storytelling
• Students can briefly summarize
a tale or story they heard from
somebody beforehand,
• They may create/imagine their
own stories to tell their
classmates.
• Story telling fosters creative
thinking. It also helps students
express ideas in the format of
beginning, development, and
ending, including the characters
and setting a story has to have.
 Interviews
• Students can conduct interviews on selected topics with
various people.
• Conducting interviews with people gives students a
chance to practice their speaking ability not only in class
but also outside and helps them become socialized. After
interviews, each student can present his or her study to
the class.

Student Interviews

Students Teachers Parents Family Staff

 Story Completion

• 1- This is a very enjoyable, whole-class,

free-speaking activity for which students
sit in a circle.
• 2- For this activity, a teacher starts to tell
a story, but after a few sentences he or
she stops narrating.
• 3- Then, each student starts to narrate
from the point where the previous one
stopped. Each student is supposed to
add from four to ten sentences.
• 4- Students can add new characters,
events, descriptions and so on.
Story completion with key words given:

1. Using a data-show projector,

teacher can ask their
students to look at the
picture and try to imagine
what happened.
2. Students can use some of
the words

It was a very hot Friday morning. The weather was very nice and the
streets were almost empty.

A loud crash scared injured bleeding

Emergency Horrible
ambulance hospital
services experience
 Picture Narrating

1. This activity is based on

several sequential pictures.
2. Students are asked to tell the
story taking place in the
sequential pictures by paying
attention to the criteria
provided by the teacher as a
rubric.
3. Rubrics can include the
vocabulary or structures (past
simple) they need to use while
narrating.
 Reporting
1. Before coming to class,
students are asked to read a
newspaper or magazine and, in
class, they report to their
friends what they find as the
most interesting news.
2. Teachers can also ask their
students to watch a specific
program on a specific channel.
Time of the program should be
given well-in-advance.
3. Then, students could be asked
to report back what they have
seen and express their views
concerning what was presented
in the program or cartoon film…
 Picture Describing
• Students describe what it
is in the picture.
• They discuss the picture
with their groups.
• Then, a spokesperson for
each group describes the
picture to the whole class.
This activity fosters the
creativity and imagination
of the learners as well as
their public speaking
skills.
• It could also be used as
springboard for a whole
class-discussion
 Speeches
• Teachers can ask their students
to prepare a speech about one of
the topics that were discussed in
class.
• They may also ask them to
prepare a speech about a special
event or occasion. In fact, lots of
students enjoy such activities as
they allow them a great deal of
freedom to express their ideas
and show their talents.
• Of course, delivering the speech
should be done in class.
 Activities that Promote Speaking
• Discussions
• Role Plays
• Simulations
• Information Gap
• Brainstorming
• Storytelling
• Interviews
• Story Completion
• Reporting
• Picture Narrating
• Picture Describing
• Speeches
 Sample Speaking Activities
for First Intermediate students:
A- Task 7 page 9 --- Introduce yourself or your best friend
B- Task 8 page 11 --- Describe/Introduce countries
C- Task 2 page 15 --- Locating places
D- Task 8 page 17 --- Talking about families
E- Task 7 page 19 –-- Interviewing / Reporting
- Bring a clear picture of a person and ask students to describe him
- Using information from a table to describe a person
- Choosing one student and ask the others to describe him

F- Tasks 6, 7 and 8 page 21 --- Acting out a dialogue

G- Task 6 page 25 – Everyday English
H- Task 5 page 29 --- Expressing likes
I- Task 9 page 31 ---- Pronunciation
J- Task 7 page 37 --- Describing a house
K- Task page 41 Using the map to give directions
L- Task page 52 – Giving instructions: A food recipe
M- Task 5 page 56 --- talking about seasons
N- Task 8 page 59 --- Reasoning
O- Task 5 page 63 --- What a visitor can see in your city
P- Task 4 page 73 --- Talking about past actions
Q- Task 3 page 80 --- Completing a story
 SUMMARY

Suggestions For Teachers

• Provide maximum opportunity to students
to speak the target language by providing
a rich environment that contains
collaborative work, authentic materials and
tasks, and shared knowledge.
 • Try to involve as many students as
possible in every speaking activity.
• For this aim, practice different ways of
student participation.
• Reduce teacher speaking time in class
while increasing student speaking time.
Step back and observe students.
• Indicate positive signs when
commenting on a student's
response.
• Ask eliciting questions
such as "What do you
mean? How did you reach
that conclusion?" in order
to prompt students to
speak more.
• Provide written feedback like "Your
presentation was really great. It was a
good job. I really appreciated your efforts
in preparing the materials and efficient use
of your voice…"
• Do not correct students' pronunciation
mistakes very often while they are
speaking. Correction should not distract
student from expressing themselves.
• Involve speaking activities not only in class
but also out of class; contact parents and
other people who can help.
• Circulate around classroom to ensure that
students are on the right track and see
whether they need your help while they
work in groups or pairs.
• Provide the vocabulary beforehand that
students need in speaking activities.
• Diagnose problems faced by students who
have difficulty in expressing themselves in the
target language and provide more
opportunities to practice the spoken language.
Conclusion
1. Pay great attention to teaching speaking.

1. Make students more active in the learning

process and reduce their anxiety.

1. Make their learning more meaningful and

fun for them.
Dear teachers,

Thank you so much for attending this online

training workshop. We hope that the
presentation has added to your understanding
of how to teach the speaking skill.

In case you have any questions, please do not

hesitate to contact us at the English Language
Unit (Basic Education). We will be so pleased to
serve you.

Email1: curriculabh@yahoo.com
Email2: curriculabh@hotmail.com
 Kingdom of Bahrain
Ministry of Education
Directorate of Curricula
English Language Unit (Basic Education)

Prepared by Mr. Emad Abdulla Al Sediri

Supervised by Dr. Nawal Al Khaja
 References
• Celce-Murcia. M. 2001. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign
Language (3rd ed). USA: Heinle&Heinle.
• Chaney, A.L., and T.L. Burk. 1998. Teaching Oral Communication in
Grades K-8. Boston: Allyn&Bacon.
• Baruah, T.C. 1991. The English Teacher's Handbook. Delhi: Sterling
Publishing House.
• Brown, G. and G. Yule. 1983. Teaching the Spoken Language.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Harmer, J. 1984. The Practice of English Language Teaching.
London: Longman.
• McDonough, J. and C. Shaw. 2003. Materials and Methods in ELT: a
teacher’s guide. Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell.
• Nunan, D., 2003. Practical English Language Teaching. NY:McGraw-
Hill.
• Staab, C. 1992. Oral language for today's classroom. Markham, ON:
Pippin Publishing.