Workshop #1A For Adults and Teenage English Classes

I ssue #1: Teaching different age groups and multilevel classes

- Recall a specific occasion when you taught speaking. What was the context? (When? To
whom? Why?)
- Was your teaching experience in that occasion positive? Why or why not? Was it a group
of mixed level learners?
- What problems do you think might arise in a multilevel speaking class?

- What are your tips of teaching such a class?


I ssue #2: Teaching grammar for a speaking session
- Would you teach grammar before starting a speaking activity? Why or why not?
..
- If you teach grammar for speaking tasks, give examples of some grammar points you
have presented to your students.
..
- How would you correct student errors in your speaking class?
..

I ssue #3: Some activities to teach speaking
- Think of two or three speaking activities that puts a smile on your face (successful ones).
Briefly describe them. Share them with other teachers.

I ssue #4: Accuracy versus fluency in teaching speaking
- How often do you correct student errors in their communicative tasks? Do you think its
necessary to correct students?

- What do you do to develop student fluency in speaking?
................................................................................................................................................


Issue #1:
- diversify students roles based on the level;
- peer-support;
- integrate other skills;
- same level students work together.

Issue #2:

Look at the exchange below between a grandson and his grandma.

Grandson: "OK, now move your cursor over and choose the scene from the menu."
Grandma: "From the what?"
Grandson: "The menu."
Grandma: "Menu? Why do they call it a menu?"
Grandson: "Well, 'cause you choose from a list. Just like in a restaurant. A menu."
Grandma: "Oh, OK."

What do you think is special about the language in the conversation? How do you use these
exchanges to teach your speaking classes? Summarize the conversations and share your thought
with your partner.

Issue #3: Varieties of twenty questions and Jigsaw

Activity 1:
Activity 2:
John lives with his family in a new block of apartment two miles from down town. From his
apartment, they have a nice view of the town.
Every weekday, he leaves his apartment at 8.05, and get in the elevator on the 24
th
floor. He
presses the button for the ground floor. He gets out of the elevator, says Good morning to the
man selling papers, goes to the bus station and gets on a bus.

**What floor do you think he lives on?
What floor does he get out of the elevator on?

Issue #4: Example of activities that focus on fluency:
- The learners work in pairs and choose a familiar topic of their own to talk about. They
talk for 4 minutes and then switch partners. The students repeat the same talk to their new
partners, but this time for three minutes. They change partners one more time and talk for
two minutes.
Beginners might do 2-1.5-1, intermediate-level learners can do 3-2-1 or 4-3-2.
- Effortless English