LIA International Conference 2005 - Jakarta

Talk Show as A Way to Encourage Listening Speaking in The Classroom

By: Kinanti Pinta Karana Teachers are sometimes trapped into the notion that a listeningspeaking class must always be ended with students making dialogues. The idea may come from habits or perhaps teachers just cannot find the time to come up with other activities. This workshop aims to show fellow teachers that there are many options of listening-speaking related activities, one of them is doing a talk show in the classroom.

Why Talk Show?

To answer the question, let us think about a black woman whose talk show has become one of the worlds most watched program. Oprah Winfrey. Her show, Oprah, discusses everything. Everything. She brings up topics from everyday matters such as parenthood problems to the latest editions from Victorias Secrets. Once she even gave out hundreds of expensive cars to her audience in the studio. That is what I call a real talk show. Not only the show gets the guests to talk, it also makes people talk about it as well. If Oprah seems so American (which I personally doubt for she discusses universal topics), what about other talk shows in our local televisions here. A more laid back format can be found in Ceriwis a production of Trans TV or a more serious one, Debat Minggu Ini at SCTV.

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LIA International Conference 2005 - Jakarta

I am sure most students know at least one of the talk shows mentioned above. I am also sure that they do not mind having a talk show in a class room, in which they can participate. Moreover, they are free to choose the topics. It can be anything from dating to fashion, or who knows, politics. Students, like children, are an endless source of surprises.

Talk show for Dummies

First of all, explain to the class that they are gonna have a talk show in the next session. It is best to let them know in advance so that they can be better prepared with the topic as well as the material. Teachers categorize the topics in several big divisions, such as, social politics, fashion and lifestyle, relationships (parent to child, friendship, dating, etc.), music and movie, sport, etc. Afterwards, ask each of them to contribute a topic and write each one under its respected category. Eliminate topics favored less by the class until only a few of them left. At this stage, students can either vote or leave the decision to the teacher of which topic shall be discussed. Once the chosen topic is decided, split the class into parties and each party must choose their representatives. Usually there are three parties: the pro, the con and the neutral party acting as the moderator. Assign the parties to read as much as they can about the topic and be prepared to do the battle at the next session. Tell the other students that they must participate at the question and answer session. They are also allowed to interrupt the speaker of the opposite party only at the question and answer session. Since the talk show will be performed at the next session then teachers are advised to assist

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LIA International Conference 2005 - Jakarta

the students on how to do the show by giving tips from the worldrenowned talk show presenters such as Larry King. Teachers can act as the moderator as well. After the talk show ends, conclude the result by asking feed back from students. There are many kinds of students and each of them is special. If we go back to the theory of multiple intelligence (which I proudly presented at the previous conference), then this activity will best accommodate students who possess social intelligence. However, it does not mean that students with other intelligences are not accommodated. They can help doing research, arrange the setting of the talk show arena, organizing the audience and so on.

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LIA International Conference 2005 - Jakarta

A few tips from Larry King

1. the rule of successful conversation: *honesty *possessing an interest to other people *be open about yourself 2. the rule of asking avoid yes/no question. For example: *does the rainy season bug you? *Will there be another recession this year? If you ask questions that way, your guests will answer yes or no. the topic stops and probably the conversation does too. But if you pull them into more substantial things, the ones that will give lengthy answers, conversation will continue. Compare the questions above with these: *the rainy season that were having makes me wonder, are there any specific reasons that cause this global storm? What do you think? *this year the supply market fluctuates like crazy. We must think, is our economy really stable as we expect. In your opinion, is it likely that were going to have another recession? The first law of conversation: listen. Do not forget your body language. Act naturally. Speak from the heart. Do not forget eye contact, maintaining eye contact is vital. It shows that youre paying attention and are interested to what is being said.

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LIA International Conference 2005 - Jakarta

Do not monopolize the conversation. Sometimes we like to hear our own voice that we forget that other people like to hear their own voice better. Do not interrogate, meaning do not ask questions in pestering way. Make it light, relax. People have more to say when they are not under pressure.

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LIA International Conference 2005 - Jakarta

The Steps of Workshop

1. The presenter will give a short presentation using power point about the topic of the workshop. 2. The presenter will play (if possible) a recording of a talk show using VTR. 3. The presenter will ask the participants to form groups 4. Each group must supply a topic and the presenter will choose the best topic to be discussed in their talk show 5. Each group must choose representatives for the talk show 6. The talk show begins with a participant as the moderator. It should last around 20 minutes. 7. End the talk show and conclude the result

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