Presentations and talks

Show-and- tell. Asking students to talk and answer questions about an object or image of special significance to them. The talk need to be more than 2 or 3 minutes and should be unscripted. The use of notes could be allowed.

Did you read about…? It can be done in small groups rather than the whole class. The stimulus is “something I read in the paper or heard on the news’ rather than an object. The most interesting story in each group can then be told to the class as a whole.

Academic presentations– students studying English for academic purposes are likely to need preparation in giving academic presentations or conference papers. It may be helpful to discuss the formal features of such genres as well as identifying specific language exponents associated with each stage. These features could be displayed as a poster in the classroom.

Drama, roleplay and simulation

Speaking activities involving a drama element, in which learners take a leap out of the confines of the classroom, provide a useful springboard for real-life language use.

Situations that learners are likely to encounter when using English in the real world can be simulated, and a greater range of registers can be practiced than are normally available in classroom talk.

A and B.You are a married couple. B is from another country. Immigration officers are going to interview you and you have five minutes to prepare for the interview. Work together to make sure you give the same information about:

- how long B has been in the country
- how long you have known each other
- where you met

- your wedding
- your jobs
- what do you do in your free time

C and D.You are immigration officers. A and B are married. B is from another country and you don’t think it’s a real marriage. You are going to interview the couple and you have 5 minutes to prepare for the interview. Work together to prepare questions to ask them.

- how long B has been in the country
- how long have they known each other
- where they met
- their wedding
- their jobs
- what they do in their free time

The Soap– learners plan, rehearse and perform (film) an episode from a soap opera. The soap opera could be based on a well-known local version.

Students write detailed profiles of the characters they are going to play and then the story is built up through a series of improvisations and scripted. Work is done on pronunciation as well as using drama techniques to improve performance.

Warm-up discussions– when introducing a new topic or preparing learners to read or listen to the text it is common to set a few questions fro pair or group discussions, followed by a report back to the class.

Panel discussions– follow the format of a television debate in which people representing various shades of opinion on a topic argue the case usually under the guidance of a chairperson. One way of organizing this is to let students first work in pairs to prepare their arguments, then one of each pair takes their place on the panel, while the others form the audience asking questions

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 833