Speeking Skills

200%.

Development of spoken Culture. By Ume Laila.

Content. Introdution : English as Medium of instructions and communication in school. Obstacles in Learning or speaking English as a Second Language. Role of the School Management in promoting English Speaking Culture. Use of Resources Role of the teacher – Classroom Teaching & Learning Practices Speaking skills or activities Recommandations.

INTRODUCTION : English was prescribed as the medium of instruction and communication in all FF Schools since the inception of the system, therefore; the faculty and students are expected to be proficient in using the language. The evaluation of the FF Schools reveals that English is not used for the aforementioned purposes due to inadequate command of English possessed by the faculty and students both..

Obstacles in Learning/speaking English as a Second Language.

Fear of Making Mistakes The students are afraid of making mistakes in speaking English language that their mates laugh at them or looking silly in front of their mates, or even criticize them in the classroom..

Continued…. Therefore, the responsibility of facilitating students to get good command of English solely lies with the school. This presentation suggests ways to create an English speaking culture in the school to achieve the aforementioned purpose..

Role of the School Management in promoting English Speaking Culture.

English-Medium Of Instruction And Communication In Schools.

USE OF RESOURCES: 1. The Morning Assembly. All students must be given the chance to participate in the morning assembly; students must be assigned a different task every time. Students must be given a speech topic in rotation. Skits/ role plays must be incorporated in the House Assembly Sharing of news of the day on daily basis..

2. The School Library. Students are given exposure to books of library by adopting Book of the Month/Week technique. Teachers may be asked to read an article on daily basis. Recently read books may be discussed by the Principal, Vice Principal and Section Heads or in the library based assembly..

3. Use of ICT, i.e., Computer labs/multimedia, laptops.

4.Tutorial Day Activities. Collective reading programmes such as DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) are adopted; once a month (Tutorial Day) all in the school leave everything else and read for 15-20 minutes. Competition related to listening, speaking, reading and writing skills are held; tutorial day can be used for the purpose..

Role of the teacher - Classroom Teaching & Learning Practices.

Continued…. Plan interactive lessons where all are given the chance to share answers/ opinions. The first five minutes of the English period may be dedicated to reading. Students are trained to write answers independently..

Continued…. Assign research work to students beforehand so that they come prepared for class discussion. Ask higher-order questions in order to prompt students to speak more. Ask easy questions from the academically struggling students in the beginning. Do not allow students to share and write one word answer..

Speaking SkillS--activities. The sub skills of speaking are: Responding to visual clues Role play Conversation Word-games Story telling Guess My job Picture describing Turn giving/taking Debates.

Following Activities will help Creating English Speaking culture.

Cont…. Activities Turn-giving/taking Giving, e.g., “What do you think,…?” “Do you agree…?” Taking, “I’d like to say/add…”. My opinion is that…., “I disagree with…” Interruption game: One student starts talking ( about anything or a topic pulled at random out of hat). The first student to properly interrupt and take over and so on, the aim of the game being to correctly interrupt as much as possible . Sub skill Word Games Activities Talk for a minute : students talk for a minute on the topic pulled out of hat, without hesitation or repetition. Hangman : guess the word from the blanks on the blackboard. Correct letter suggestions are filled into the correct blanks and the wrong letter suggestion is written aside, until either the word is guessed or the hanged man is complete..

Cont…. Activities Guess my job : A student picks a job or chooses a job from his/her own imagination. The other students try to guess the job by asking his/her routine which the student answer as ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Sub skill Picture describing : Activities Another way to make students speak is by showing them one or two pictures. Then, and ask them to describe what is in them. Students discuss the picture in detail: the people, the setting, the weather, feelings, etc. It can be conducted in pairs or individually. This activity fosters the creativity and imagination of the learners. It also develops their public speaking skills..

Continued…. Sub Skill Storytelling Activities Students can briefly summarize a tale or story they have listened to or read. They may create their own stories to tell to the class. Storytelling fosters creative thinking and boosts students’ imagination. Students express ideas in chronological order making use of appropriate linking words. They describe characters and their feelings as well as events spread in time and space. Debates Debates are persuasive speaking activities. Here students keep an attitude, give opinions, and justify them giving arguments to support ideas. Students debate in a polite way on challenging topics..

Some more recommendations for teachers and students.

Thankyou.