Centro Cultural Colombo Americano

ONLINE TEFL Diploma Course

Teaching Language Skills Online

SPEAKING SKILLS
– EXPERT 1–

Speaking Skill
Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode. Like the other skills, it is more complicated
than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words.
There are three kinds of speaking situations in which we find ourselves:

● interactive,
● partially interactive, and
● non-interactive.

Interactive speaking situations include face-to-face conversations and telephone calls, in which
we are alternately listening and speaking, and in which we have a chance to ask for
clarification, repetition, or slower speech from our conversation partner. Some speaking
situations are partially interactive, such as when giving a speech to a live audience, where the
convention is that the audience does not interrupt the speech. The speaker nevertheless can
see the audience and judge from the expressions on their faces and body language whether or
not he or she is being understood.

Some few speaking situations may be totally non-interactive, such as when recording a speech
for a radio broadcast.

Micro-skills
Here are some of the micro-skills involved in speaking. The speaker has to:

● pronounce the distinctive sounds of a language clearly enough so that people can
distinguish them. This includes making tonal distinctions.
● use stress and rhythmic patterns, and intonation patterns of the language clearly
enough so that people can understand what is said.
● use the correct forms of words. This may mean, for example, changes in the tense, case,
or gender.
● put words together in correct word order.
● use vocabulary appropriately.
● use the register or language variety that is appropriate to the situation and the
relationship to the conversation partner.
● make clear to the listener the main sentence constituents, such as subject, verb, object,
by whatever means the language uses.
● make the main ideas stand out from supporting ideas or information.
● make the discourse hang together so that people can follow what you are saying.
 Centro Cultural Colombo Americano
ONLINE TEFL Diploma Course
Teaching Language Skills Online

THE USE OF SPEAKING ACTIVITIES IN CLASS

– EXPERT 2–

1. Why do we implement speaking activities in class?

- To allow students to practice the language and to gain fluency.

- To have students use new vocabulary, a concept or a grammar structure.
- To make students improve their confidence when speaking in a foreign language.

2. When is a speaking activity successful?

A speaking activity is successful when

- Students are prepared for the activity.

- The task is appropriate to the level.
- Students are motivated to do the task.
- There is interaction among students and the teacher.
- The activity has a purpose.
- The activity is related to the real world and to students’ interests.

3. What’s the role of the teacher in a speaking activity?

The role of the teacher in a speaking activity is that of a planner, a source of knowledge and a
monitor. The teacher should be able to decide what kinds of speaking activities are
appropriate to take to class and once put into practice, should give students all the tools they
need to do the activity successfully and give feedback.

4. When are speaking activities done in class?

Speaking activities can be done
- As a warm-up.
- After a reading or a listening activity.
- As a wrap-up.
- At any moment as long as there is a purpose.
 Centro Cultural Colombo Americano
ONLINE TEFL Diploma Course
Teaching Language Skills Online

SPEAKING HINTS TO HELP TEACHERS CONDUCT SPEAKING ACTIVITIES SUCCESSFULLY ONLINE

– EXPERT 3–

Establish class objectives and let students know them.

Give clear instructions.

Create a positive atmosphere for students to participate actively.

Motivate students to participate actively.

Try to make students participate in an equitable way.

Let students work at their own pace.

Keep the activity on track.

End the activity at the right moment.

Avoid yes/no answers.

Encourage group work.

Correct students once the activity is over.

Conduct feedback about the activity and discuss the use of English.
 Centro Cultural Colombo Americano
ONLINE TEFL Diploma Course
Teaching Language Skills Online

SPEAKING DIFFICULTIES AND HOW TO HELP OVERCOME THEM

– EXPERT 4 – David

● Students try to translate from their native language into English.

How to Fix It? Give compensation strategies to the students — Ask students to use other
strategies instead of using their native language. They can give a definition, do the mimic,
explain, give an example, draw or just use some of the words they have to make themselves
understood. Providing classroom language is also important.

● Production "blocking" occurs due to nervousness, lack of confidence, etc.

How to Fix It? Become a Child Again — Tell students to allow themselves to be “children”
again and make as many mistakes as possible. Help them also accept the fact that they won't
understand everything, that's okay!

● The speaker is looking for a specific word, rather than using simple
language to describe what is meant.

How to Fix It? Use Compensation Strategies — Students sometimes limit themselves by
trying to find the exact translation of something they've done. However, if they are learning
English, they’ find they can speak more easily if they aren't trying to find a specific word.

● There aren't enough conversation opportunities in or outside of class.

How to Fix It? Use Your Native Language — Think about what you like to discuss in your
own native language. Find a friend who speaks your language, have a conversation about a
topic you both enjoy in your own language. Next, try to reproduce the conversation in English.
Don't worry if you can't say everything, just try to repeat the main ideas of your conversation.

● Students aren't able to speak to peers (for example: mixed classes of adults
and teenagers).

How to Fix It? Make Speaking into a Game — Challenge each other to speak in English for a
short period of time. Keep your goals easy. Perhaps you can begin with a short two-minute
conversation in English. As practicing becomes more natural, challenge each other for longer
periods of time. Another possibility is to collect some money for each time you use your own
language with a friend. Use the money to go out for a drink and practice some more English!
 Centro Cultural Colombo Americano
ONLINE TEFL Diploma Course
Teaching Language Skills Online

SPEAKING STRATEGIES
– EXPERT 5 – Josué

Here are some regular strategies students could use when they are learning English. They
can communicate using each one of these and “survive” any speaking situation. Read the
strategies below and try to think of 1 example for at least 2 of the strategies.

● Using body language.

● Paraphrasing.
● Improvising.
● Replacing unknown words for synonyms or antonyms.
● Clarification requests or confirmation checkers.
● Switching to mother tongue.
● Avoiding communication partially or totally.
● Foreignising.
● Avoiding difficult grammar.
● Relying on dictionaries or the teacher for unknown words.
● Discarding.
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Teaching Language Skills Online

CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE TEACHER IN PREPARING OR PLANNING SPEAKING PRACTICE

ONLINE
– EXPERT 6 –

Managing the conversation equitably is one of the most difficult challenges. It’s important to
have clear protocols for turn-taking (maybe using the chat box or the hands-up icon) and to
keep a track of who has and hasn’t spoken. Plan tasks where everyone has a chance to say
something, and ensure they’re not all repeating the same thing. Tasks with a personal element
are really useful, where there are no right and wrong answers, but everyone brings something
new to the activity.

Tasks that keep the listeners tuned in are also really important. For example, you could have a
circular story-telling task where one student starts then hands on to another and so on, and
everyone has to be paying attention in case they’re called next. A good trick is to call on
someone different to summarise what has been said every minute or so, to keep everyone on
their toes.

One of the most important things to remember is that you need to balance variety. Plan 3 or 4
different tasks per lesson, with simplicity; don’t try and pack too much into one class. And
remember to make the most of the screen to support all stages of the lesson. Have a welcome
screen for the beginning, and a thank you screen at the end. Use images, icons, tables and
illustrations to support your instructions and tasks. Prepare all of this beforehand and the lesson
will flow easily, leaving you free to monitor the conversations!
 Centro Cultural Colombo Americano
ONLINE TEFL Diploma Course
Teaching Language Skills Online

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF TEACHING SPEAKING REMAIN THE SAME

– EXPERT 7 –

In essence, what helps students get better at speaking online is the same as what helps them
get better at speaking offline: there still needs to be comprehensible input pitched at (or
slightly above) the level of the class; there needs to be a clear sense of what kind of speaking
you want your students to try and work on – and this is particularly true with lower-level
learners who are perhaps less likely to go off at tangents on their own; it’s useful if students
can hear recorded versions of conversations similar to those they’re going to have, and it’s
useful if we give our model answers before expecting students to come up with their own.
Modeling speaking tasks works really well when sharing experiences, anecdotes, opinions,
etc.

When students are speaking, whether that’s in small groups where everyone can hear, or to
one or two partners in a breakout room, we need to listen in, record ways they could better
say what they’re trying to say – which might be whole-sentence reformulations, mini-
exchanges or corrections, or a mix of all three – and then wrap up with some kind of
language-focused feedback slot, which also feeds forward to the next time they try to have
similar kinds of conversations. But… the next expert will let you know the details of the
“but”…
 Centro Cultural Colombo Americano
ONLINE TEFL Diploma Course
Teaching Language Skills Online

TACKLING THE TECH

– EXPERT 8 –

For many teachers at the moment, an added pressure to what’s already a stressful situation
is the relentless barrage of tech tips we’re all subjected to. It’s easy to start feeling guilty
because we haven’t watched that latest webinar on integrating Google docs into our virtual
classrooms or read up on the ‘17 things teachers must start doing with Quizlet.’ It’s at times
like this that we’d all do well to remember Michael Swan’s words of wisdom: “Good enough is
good enough.”

Maybe you’re using Skype for your small groups and recording new input in the chat box – or
possibly even on a piece of paper that you photograph and email around later; or perhaps
you’ve mastered the basics of Zoom and set up breakout rooms for small group discussions;
you pop in and out of each one, and then you give feedback. If you’ve taken this fairly
minimal approach and students are happy, be happy. In the end, no amount of technical
wizardry can match the rapport a great teacher builds with a group through chat, through
questions, through caring and sharing – and this is what will motivate learners the most.

That said, technical issues can get in the way of all of this, and it’s obviously vital to ensure
that everyone you’re teaching has both access to the tech they need, and a basic
understanding of how things work – where the chat boxes are, how to turn audio and video
on and off, and so on. It’s also worth establishing some ground rules. For instance, with
larger groups (of, say, eight and over), it’s often wise for the main host to mute microphones
when they’re talking. Otherwise, a class can quickly descend into a cacophony! Make sure
these kinds of survival tactics are clear and transparent.