TIPS FOR MANAGING SPEAKING TASKS B1+

The tips below are all designed to be used in the classroom, to manage and assess the
speaking tasks in the Beyond B1+ Student's Book. Some of the tips are illustrated using real
examples from the Beyond B1+ Student's Book to show how they can be implemented in the
classroom. The tips aim to help you to get maximum talking time from your students, foster
good speaking habits (eg turn taking and active listening) and ensure a positive speaking
experience for the whole class.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT: Monitoring students during speaking activities

 Make sure you have plenty of room to move around to monitor students. If you decide
to monitor a group of students for more than a minute or so, take a chair and sit
quietly to one side so they can continue their discussion without being aware of being
'observed'.
 Alternatively, at this level you can consider sitting down with a group of students and
participating in their discussion for a couple of minutes. This will allow you to assess
them in a more natural and relaxed way.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT: Groupings

Make sure you provide plenty of opportunity for students to communicate in different
groupings – pairs, small groups, larger groups and even as a whole class. Many of the
speaking activities in Beyond can be adapted to different groupings if you wish. One way to
do this is to have students do the activity as intended (eg in pairs or small groups), then
group students in larger groups to compare their ideas.

Example: Before Unit 9, page 102, Writing, Exercise 1

 Put the students into pairs to discuss the questions in Exercise 1 about things in their
school. Set a time limit for this.
 When the time limit is up, put each pair with another group of four and have them
compare their ideas in a larger group.
 When the students have finished, conclude with a whole-class discussion.

WARMERS: Question swap

Teenagers sometimes need encouragement when it comes to speaking activities. Below are
two ideas to get them started.

In this mingle activity, the students write a question on a piece of paper and ask it to other
students. At a signal from you, they swap questions with another student and continue the
task, asking their new question. When they hear the signal again, they swap questions once
more (and so on).

Example: Before Unit 5, page 50, Recall and read

 Write the word Art on the board. Ask the students to think of a question about art that
they would like to ask other students. If necessary elicit two or three ideas as a class
to illustrate, eg:
Do you like modern art?
Where is Picasso from?
How often do you visit art galleries?

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TIPS FOR MANAGING SPEAKING TASKS B1+

 The students quickly write their question on a piece of paper.

 Encourage the students to stand up and mingle, asking their question and answering
other students' questions. After around 30 seconds to a minute, give a signal (eg clap
or ring a bell).
 The students swap questions with the person they are talking to and then mingle
again, asking their new question.
 Give the signal again after another 30 seconds and have the students switch a
second time. You can have them switch as many times as you like, but be careful not
to let the activity drag on for too long.

DEVELOPING GOOD SPEAKING HABITS: Turn taking

Students at this level have a good grasp of English and will probably be fairly confident
speakers. It’s important that they learn to take turns appropriately in speaking activities.
Remind students of useful phrases for interrupting (eg Excuse me, can I say something
here?) and inviting others to speak (eg What about you?) and encourage them to use these
in discussions.

A useful activity to raise awareness about turn taking is to put an object in the middle of the
table. The person talking holds the object and must pass it to the next person who wants to
speak. The rule is that you can only speak when holding the object.

DEVELOPING GOOD SPEAKING HABITS: Accepting others' points of view

One of the most important skills for students to learn is to accept that other students may not
agree with their opinion. This is especially important at higher levels where there are more
discussion-based tasks. They also need to learn to disagree with others in a polite way. One
way to practise this in a controlled activity is to elicit from students a list of phrases for
agreeing and disagreeing (eg Agreeing: I totally agree; Disagreeing: I completely disagree.).
and write them in two columns on the board. Put the students into pairs and ask them to take
turns to give their opinion on any subject. The other student should simply agree or disagree
using one of the phrases on the board. It doesn't matter if they agree or disagree; what's
important is that they give their true opinion and that the other student responds calmly
(especially if they disagree).

PEER ASSESSMENT
It can be useful for students to give each other feedback on issues such as turn taking, eye
contact and active listening. It is better not to ask students to give feedback on language
errors as this can lead to resentment and discourage students from talking in future activities.
It is important though not to let assessment interfere with the speaking activity. One way to
give feedback is as follows:

Before the speaking activity, write the following sentence endings on the board:

_________ spoke very clearly.

_________ encouraged other people to speak.
_________ was an active listener.
_________ took turns well.
_________ used good eye contact.

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TIPS FOR MANAGING SPEAKING TASKS B1+

Ask the students to copy the sentences onto a piece of paper. After the speaking activity, ask
them to complete each sentence with the name of a student they worked with. They can then
share their feedback with other members of the group. For pairwork activities, you can ask
the students to complete the three sentences from the list that their partner did the best.

TEACHER FEEDBACK: Assessing students

It is important to monitor students and assess how well they are doing in speaking tasks.
However it's a good idea (and easier for you!) if you focus on one or two areas to assess for
each speaking activity. For example, in one activity you may choose to focus on how well
students are interacting and taking turns; in another you may choose to focus on their
grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. If you are assessing these, don't make a note of
every error you hear, but do make a note of any recurrent or important errors to correct at the
end. When you are assessing students, be discrete – move around quietly and allow
students to complete the speaking activity. Make sure any feedback is done at the end of the
activity.

TEACHER FEEDBACK: Providing feedback

Rather than correcting students' errors yourself, get the students involved in the correction
process. You can write any errors of grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary on the board and
ask students to come up and correct them.

Although the best time to give feedback is usually at the end of a speaking activity,
sometimes it may be appropriate to give feedback in the middle of an activity, especially one
where students have to swap roles (so, just before they swap). This can be useful if you spot
errors in target grammar or vocabulary that it would be better to correct in the middle of the
activity, in order for students to complete the rest of the activity successfully.

Example: Unit 1, page 11, Speaking, Exercise 5

 In this activity, monitor students while the first student is asking the questions. Make a
note of any errors in the target grammar (past tenses), eg Did you always wanted to
be a sailor? or What were your childhood like?
 Stop the activity before the students swap roles. Correct any past tense errors as a
class.
 Allow the students to check and, if necessary, correct their past tense questions
before resuming the activity.
It’s always important to give positive feedback on the ideas students have discussed. Make a
note of any interesting things that students say and use these as a basis for a whole-class
discussion at the end of the activity.

This page has been downloaded from www.macmillanbeyond.com

© Macmillan Publishers Limited 2015. This sheet may be photocopied and used within the class.