Activities for

developing speaking
skills

Peter Lucantoni
 Peter Lucantoni
• Started teaching in 1979 in UK, MA TESOL
University of Edinburgh, lived and worked in
Europe and Middle East, now based in Cyprus
• Author, Educational Consultant & Teacher
Trainer for Cambridge University Press
• Cambridge TKT, CELTYL, CELTA & DELTA
trainer and Cambridge CELTYL assessor
• Examiner for Cambridge ESOL speaking
examinations
 Overview
• What do the experts say?
• What does speaking involve?
• Pairwork and groupwork
• Making it motivating
• Activities
• Conclusions
 What do the experts say?
• The ability to speak a second … language
well is a very complex task (Jack
Richards, 2002)
• Learning to speak a foreign language
requires more than knowing its
grammatical and semantic rules (Kang
Shumin, 2002)
• Speaking is in many ways an undervalued
skill (Martin Bygate, 2000)
 What do the experts say?
• Getting students to talk is the major
and one of the most difficult tasks
confronting any teacher (C N Candlin,
1990)
• We often make judgements about a
person’s social, cultural or educational
background on the basis of the quality
of their spoken language (Lucantoni,
2002)
 What does speaking involve?

• Discuss with your colleagues and try to

agree on the different things that
speaking involves.
recall of appropriate words
 Speaking involves …

• recall of appropriate words

• organisation of words into units
• movement of lips & tongue to form sounds
• monitoring sounds and correcting if
necessary
• awareness of cultural conventions
What do learners need to practise and learn?

• 1 carry out ‘routine’ exchanges

• 2 take part in ‘unpredictable’ exchanges
• Think of examples of both types of
exchanges
What do learners need to practise and learn??

• 3 know when it is appropriate to speak, when to

interrupt, …
• 4 monitor what they say, for correction
• 5 negotiate and manage exchanges
• 6 speak with intelligible pronunciation
• 7 select appropriate grammar & vocabulary
 Do we need to teach speaking skills?

• Grammar & vocabulary learning involves

oral practice
• Receptive skills lessons often involve
speaking
• Speaking often bound up in everything
else we do in classroom
 Do we need to teach speaking skills?

• Many learners say that speaking is the

most important skill for them
• Dedicated speaking lessons are useful
• Provides safe rehearsal for the real world
 Pairwork & group work

• Greatly increases amount of time students

can talk in class – best way to maximise
class time
• Improves quality of talking, more natural –
hesitation, mixed structures, unfinished …
• Natural framework for interaction
• Encourages communal classroom, helps
to individualise learning
 Pairwork & group work

• Students learn by doing things for themselves

• Focus on fluency rather than accuracy
• Confidence building
• Teacher freer to listen to more students
• Classes more active/interactive and fun,
therefore more motivating
 Making it motivating

• Make speaking relevant

• Make speaking real
• Don’t forget pronunciation
• Show them how much they can say (not
what they can’t say)
 Making it motivating

• Don’t criticise mistakes

• Encourage free expression
• Provide feedback
• Give them the words they need
• Speaking means listening too
 Find someone who ...
Name Details

can ...
can’t ...
likes ...
doesn’t like ...
would like to ...
didn’t ...
is going to ...
 Find someone who ...

• You – Hassan, can you drive a car?

• Hassan – Yes, I can.
• You – When did you learn to drive?
• Hassan – Two years ago.
 Find someone who ...
Name Details

can ... Hassan He learned two years ago

can’t ...
likes ...
doesn’t like ...
would like to ...
didn’t ...
is going to ...
 Find someone who ...

• You – Salma, would you like to

come for dinner?
• Salma – Yes, I would.
• You – What would you like to eat?
• Salma – Not meat – I’m vegetarian.
 Find someone who ...
Name Details

can ... Hassan He learned two years ago

can’t ...
likes ...
doesn’t like ...
would like to ... Salma Doesn’t eat meat

didn’t ...
is going to ...
 Swim swam swum street

• Think of the area where you live –

streets, shops, buildings, restaurants, etc
• Draw a simple map and name/label the
details from the first stage
• Look through your notes and books and
pick out 10-12 useful words or phrases
that you want to revise, eg,
swim/swam/swum
 Swim swam swum street

• Now rename the details on the map,

using the vocabulary you want to revise,
for example: Swim Swam Swum Street,
On the Other Hand Restaurant, Most
Comfortable Bank
• In pairs or small groups, present new
maps to each other, reinforcing
vocabulary to be revised
 Question-Question

• Sometimes we answer a question with

another question
• Why? Try to think of three reasons
 Question-Question

Ali >>> <<< Badra

Pretty good. Where I’m ok. What about
are you going? you?
I’m nosey. Can I come What did you say?
with you? Ahhh, that’s my secret!
I said ‘How are you?’ Why do you want to
Hi, Badra, how are know?
you? Are you crazy?
Ali Hello, how are you?
Badra What did you say?
Ali I said ‘How are you?’
Badra I’m ok, what about you?
Ali Pretty good. Where are you going?
Badra Ahhh, that’s my secret! Why do you
want to know?
Ali I’m nosey! Can I come with you?
Badra Are you crazy?!
 Useful questions

What did you say?

Why do you ask?
Can you say that again?
Can we stop this?
Are you deaf?
What do you mean?
 The world
• Listen to the words
• Think about in which country you can
write them
• Example: ‘coffee’ could go in Italy
because the coffee is good there, or in
Brazil because coffee beans grow there
• Discuss with your partners and give
reasons for your choices
 The world
Where did you put coffee?
I put coffee in Brazil
So did I / I didn’t
Why did you put coffee in Brazil?
I chose Brazil because …
I agree / disagree
 The world

oil
coffee
peace chocolate
water mountains
music fishing
 Presenting a new product

• Umbrella
• Paper clip
• Candle
• Fork
• Coat hanger
• Highlighter
• Chopsticks
 Presenting a new product

• Choose the product you want to

present
• Think of five new features for it
• Draw and label it, showing the
new features
 Presenting a new product

5. _______________ 1. Laser pointer

2. Multi-
coloured
4. _______________
3. ________________
 Presenting a new product

• Look at the talk skeleton and

make notes about your product
• Prepare and deliver your
presentation to the class
 Presenting a new product

• Thank you very much for coming

to our presentation!
• Our wonderful new product is
called ……….
• I’m going to tell you about it.
Afterwards, you can ask
questions.
 Presenting a new product

• The ………. is fantastic!

• Firstly ……….
• Secondly ……….
• Also ……….
• And ……….
• Finally ……….
 Presenting a new product

• We believe that our ………. is

……….
• I have time to answer two or three
questions now
• Thank you all for listening!
 Conclusions
• Competence in speaking is just as much
about how as what
• Building learners’ confidence is an
essential part of the whole speaking
process
• Don’t sacrifice creativity for accuracy
• Don’t sacrifice accuracy for creativity
• Scaffold, scaffold, scaffold …
 Any
questions?
peter@cup-training.org