Khilchuk Oksana IM-31

Unit 3.2
Language Skills - Teaching Speaking

1. Write down:
- about the time people start speaking.
Generally, children begin to babble from around the age of six months and say their first
words between 10 and 15 months (most stast speaking at about 12 months). They then
begin to pick up increasing numbers of words.

- about the time people start speaking a foreign language

When people start speaking a foreign language they face many problems. First of all, it’s
the fear of saying something wrong, the fear that you will not be understood. And indeed
in the beginning the pronunciation is not correct enough, not always the correct
constructions, a small vocabulary but over time people develop skills and their speaking
becomes better.

- reflect on your experience of speaking a foreign language in public or with native

speakers of that language for the first time.
The first time I talked to a native speaker on street, I asked him where the subway is. My
pronunciation was not correct but he understood me and explained everything. I did not
understand all the words but how to get to the subway I understood.

- name the problems you faced during speaking.

The biggest problem I faced during speaking was fear. I was afraid to ask the man and
thought he would not understand me. My pronunciation was completely imperfect. Also I
died not know all the words I needed and tried to show then with gestures, which was not
very easy.

2. Learner needs in speaking.

Linguistic:
- a good level vocabulary
- a good pronunciation
- listening skills
- practice of speaking
- available materials (books, audios, etc.)
- knowledge of grammar
- communication with native speaker

Extralinguistic:
- motivation
- emotion
- attitude
- personality
- culture of second language

3. Charscteristics of a good speaker of English.

Flexible
Imagination
Pateience

A good
speaker Go the extra mile
Communication

Adapting
Organization

Flexible
An English speaking partner needs to be flexible and needs to be able to adjust the lesson
according to the needs of the student both on a time basis together with the standard of
lesson spoken at the beginning of the course of sessions and continue this flexibility during
the course of the sessions.
Imagination
An English speaking partner must have imagination to be able to adjust the lessons to keep
the learners interested. If a learner is not interested their spoken English will not improve
so it is very important for the partner to have imagination and keep the sessions
interesting.
Patience
English speaking partners need to be patient and work at the pace of the student with the
ability to correct mistakes without the student feeling they are under-achieving or they
loose their confidence.
Communication
An English speaking partner must be able to communicate well with all their students of
every nationality. This English speaking partner must be able to speak slowly and clearly
and to be able to discuss many different topics at beginner, intermediate and advanced
levels.
Go the extra mile
It is very important to be able to motivate English speaking learners to speak fluently.
English-speaking partners must give plenty of encouragement and inspiration and ensure
that they understand the aims of the students they are talking with together with knowing
from the beginning what the students want from these conversations.
Adapting
English speaking partners must be able to adapt their lesson plans to accommodate their
students. Sometimes these partners have a lesson plan but during the conversations the
topics being discussed can vary and the partners need to be able to adjust very quickly and
have extra questions to ask on whatever topic the conversation follows even if it is not part
of the original lesson/session plan.
Organization
An English speaking partner needs to come to the session well organized and having
decided which topics will be discussed during the forthcoming session. The topic may have
been decided during the previous session. The partner must have plenty of questions
and/or topics to fill each session.

4. Complete the statements.

- Speaking skill is the ability to communicate effectively.
- While speaking, we expect our learners to be able to understand and reproduce.

Handout 3.
These qualities are similar to those I came with, but they are more detailed and more
numerous.

Handout 1.

Problem Tick
Glassophobia ( a fear of public speking or speaking in general) 
A fear of being laughed at 
Time pressure
Lack of vocabulary 
Pronunciation 
A fear of making grammar mistakes 
Lack of fluency

5. Many English teachers still spend the majority of class time on reading and writing
practice almost ignoring speaking and listening skills.
The reason students do not speak in class may be that it is easier for teachers to give
written assigments then oral ones. Teachers do not want to create an environment for
students to communicate and thus severaly limit their communication.
Completely different reason for students silence may simply be that the class activities are
boring or are pithed at the wrong level. Very often our speaking activities are noy quite as
interesting or as communicative as we think they are and all the students are really
requied to do is answer “yes” or “no” which they do quickly and then just sit in silence or
worse talking noisity in their L1.