10 IDEAS FOR CONVERSATION

10 IDEAS FOR CONVERSATION

INTRODUCTION

Here is a selection of 10 ideas for use with adult learners to stimulate conversation and speaking. Most of them are not my own original ideas and most experienced teachers probably already know most of them. You will find variations of these ideas in almost any TEFL book. If you work with other teachers try these ideas out in the staffroom as well.

SPEAKING FOR 1 MINUTE:

For small groups. You have a list a subjects to talk about. e.g. Football, the sex life of the inside of a ping-pong ball, cooking. etc. You choose one person to start talking about the subject. If the person repeats a word, hesitates or makes a gramatical error, another person in the group can take over by saying error, hesitation or repetition. It is the teachers job to decide quickly if the interruption is valid. The person who interrupts them must continue. The winner is the person talking at the end of the minute.

YES/NO GAME

Everyone must have played the game in which one person must avoid saying yes or no when asked many questions by the others in the group. The winner is the person who can survive longest. Strangely it seems to be less difficult for a non-native speaker to avoid saying yes/no

CALL MY BLUFF

You need a big (bilingual) dictionary for this one. A student looks in the dictionary and finds a word which seems very obscure. That student gives a definition of the word to the others. The definition must be either 100% true or 100% false. When the student has finished the others must decide if the definition was bluff or true. The student receives a point for each person who is decieved.

VARIATION:

Instead of using definitions. The students must tell the others something about themselves which is 100% true or 100% false. E.G. I always tell them that my second cousin was the tallest ever woman to live in Britain and tell them some things about it. This happens to be true. This is an excellent game for compulsive liars.

RANKING AND NEGOTIATING GAMES:

If you look in almost any TEFL book you will find ranking games. A group of students have to decide what to take from a series of objects for a particular situation. E.G: To get to the north pole, or survive on a desert island. One variation which I thought of that works well is this: All your students are going on holiday or emigrating to another country in a small car. Each student has 2 objects that they want to take. E.G. A violin, a big dog, 20 bottles of whisky. Each person must argue in favour of their own choices. The student with the most inventive argument wins rather than the most sensible idea.

BOARD GAMES:

It is possible to modify a whole series of board games for TEFL. For example pictionary, taboo. Also you can get ideas from game shows that are on television.

LATERAL THINKING QUESTIONS

: You may have played this game before. You tell the students a story. They have to discover the explanation of the story by asking questions. You can only answer yes/no or not important. E.G. A man lives on the 10th floor of a block of flats. Every morning he gets in the lift, goes down to the ground floor gets in his car and goes to work. When he returns from work he gets into the lift goes to the 7th floor and then walks the rest of the way to his flat using the stairs. Why? Answer: He is a dwarf and can only reach the button for the 7th floor.

WOMEN'S MAGAZINES

Do the questionaires from womens magazines. The ones that find out if you are honest or not etc. Get the students to make their own questionaires in groups and then try them out on each other.

SPEAK ABOUT CARDS

Get some small cards and write a topic of conversation on each one. Give each group a pile of them. When a student turns over a card he must talk about that subject. This often leads to spontaneous conversations with the students forgetting about the game which in my opinion is excellent. Some ideas for topics are :- The happiest moment of my life, the pets I have had, what happened to me last weekend, my ambitions, my ideal day etc. You should change the topics according to the class. This is also a way of introducing polemic topics etc. legalisation of drugs, capital punishemnt etc.

FAIRY STORIES

Get the students to tell each other fairy stories or traditional children's stories from their countries. One variation is to choose a fairy story that everyone knows e.g. Little red riding hood and get small groups to tell the story. (going in a clockwise direction) Each person can only add one word.

Accidents in the Home

Gerard CounihanprofesorSs [at] blabla.esBla Bla & Company (Guipuzkoa, Spain)

The expression "domestic accidents" does not normally evoke feelings of fear or tragedy, since most people only think about the concept on a superficial level: a slip here; a slight burn there; a fall from a ladder which may even provoke a moment of mirth for the onlooking partner, etc. Millions of such banal-sounding mishaps occur every year, however, and the majority involve children and old folk.

1. Advance Organiser

Students relate an incident which has happened to them in the home.

2. What You Would do in the Event of ...

...a pan on fire.

...an open tap flooding the bathroom.

...a child drinking a chemical product.

...cutting your finger while preparing a vegetable stew.

3. Focal Points of Danger in the Home

Students name theirs first:

My examples:

Pan

Iron

Bath

Bunk bed

Medicines

Gas on, no flame

Small carpet on polished floor

TV

Knife

Hairdrier

Balcony

Window

Further activity:

Students discuss which of the above is the most common-and why.

Real Life Stories

(From my students here in the Basque country.)

"My mother was speaking on the phone while a piece of meat was cooking on a pan in the kitchen. As my mother spoke the meat got hotter and hotter, until it caught fire-while my mother spoke. She spoke, and spoke and the flames coming from the meat got taller and taller. A neighbour who happened to look out his window saw the flames and ran to the door of my mother's flat-my mother was still on the phone. The neighbour banged on the door and alerted the son of the speaking mother-he had been watching TV. It must have been a very interesting programme because the son had not smelled anything or seen any smoke; only the neighbour. Anyway, the son filled a bucket with water and ... yes!, threw it on the burning mass!! The whole kitchen was black; the mother shocked and crying; the TV deserted; the person at the end of the line ...?

Another incident occurred in Zarautz, Basque country, on the morning of the 6th of January, the day of the kings-the three wise men. This pupil was slowly waking up, at about 9am. She and her family were opening their presents amid much joy, love and affection. As the paper crackled and the eyes shone brightly, shouts of what seemed to be happiness floated through the air from distant houses. The atmosphere was great, everyone was concentrated on their work. Then the shouts of happiness became sharper, a tone of panic pervaded the cries: it appeared that the people making these noises were not so happy after all-an argument, perhaps?

Our pupil looked out a window and immediately saw why the shouts of happiness had in fact turned into screams of anguish-a house opposite was on fire. Its occupants were running and screaming, the neighbours too. Our pupil called the firemen/women, who told her to tell the victims to get out of their house. The latter ran into the burning abode and took money and other valuables-the presents too, I think-and came out again. Their faces were black, their house burnt down; the neighbours panicked-our pupil too.

Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom

Teacher's Guide

These are a large group of questions which you can use in your ESL conversation classes.

Some Ways to Use These Questions in the Classroom

Print out the questions and let students work in pairs asking the questions alternately.

Divide the questions into 2 pages, give half the questions to one student and half to another and let them work in pairs asking each other the questions. Students should be encouraged not to look at the other student's paper.

In a small class, the teacher may want to use the questions to get a conversation going about a given topic. In this case, the students aren't given a copy of the questions.

Before Using the Questions

You may save the page "as text", edit it to be more appropriate for your own students. For example:

Delete questions which you feel are inappropriate.

Localize the questions to your country or city.

Sort the questions into a sequence which you like.

Add any additional questions you can think of. (It would be nice to also add those questions to the master list, so all teachers can use them.)

Group Forming Activities for ESL/EFL Students

Michael O'Connellfullconcentration[at}yahoo.com.auGifu Shotoku Gakuen University (Gifu, Japan)

This short information gap activity helps to increase discipline, energy and cohesion within a classroom before important group tasks. It is particularly helpful for large monolingual high school or university classrooms.

Introduction

It is well known that pair work and group work are the best ways to encourage student activity in the language classroom. When a class breaks down into groups, students are given more opportunities to interact than as a whole class. This increased practice is essential in developing oral fluency. Unfortunately this break down can lead to problems with discipline, because the teacher is unable to monitor everyone at once. Students may do the task half-heartedly or not at all or simply fall back on their mother tongue to finish it quickly. In order to avoid these pitfalls, I have started using group forming activities as a build up to group tasks. The effect on discipline and classroom energy is substantial.

Stage 1: Preparation

Before class, the teacher should prepare a set of cards. One card for each student in the class. Half the cards should have questions. The other half should contain corresponding answers. For example each of the following is its own card:

What's the time?

It's 10 to 12.

Are you going out tonight?

No, I think I'll stay home and take it easy.

Where did you buy that?

I got it at a little store near my house.

Who else is coming?

I think Barry and a few of his friends.

This is just an example of the kind of language that can be used in this group forming activity. In my intermediate and advanced classes I have students match phrasal verbs and collocations with words that are common in Japanese dictionaries (eg. told off/scold, muck around/play, enjoy/have fun, ). Other matches might be pictures, half sentences or collocations. Larger groups can be formed by adding more cards. (eg. Are you going out tonight?/No, I think I'll stay home and take it easy./Don't be boring. Come out and have a good time.) Ultimately, the language should be appropriate to the students level. I try to use Krashen's 'i+1' theory, where the language is recognisable but contains something more than their current level. In this way the activity itself involves input and the learners are challenged by it. The most important thing when making the cards is to make sure there is only one match for each card.

Stage 2: Demonstration

Draw six to eight boxes with the questions and answers on the whiteboard. The teacher then chooses a question and asks the class (or an individual student) to find the answer. When the answer is given, connect the two boxes with a line. Next, the teacher chooses an answer and asks the class (or an individual student) to find the matching question. Join them with a line. This is done until all the boxes on the board are matched.

After demonstrating on the whiteboard, tell the students "I'm going to give you a card. Don't show anyone. It's a secret! You are going to read your card to other students and find your match." Concept check by asking a student "Are you going to show your card to other students?" and "Are you going to read your card?".

Next give three to five students in the front row a card and take a matching card for yourself. Then quickly demonstrate the task by reading your card to each student and having them read theirs back to you. While your doing this ask the class "Is that a match?" until the match is found.

In the beginning, the demonstration stage can be time consuming. However, this activity can be used repeatedly throughout a semester with variations. Once the students understand what is involved they don't need to be told again. In later classes the demonstration can be skipped altogether.

Stage 3: The Activity

Walk around the class with the cards face down and fanned out so students can pick a random card. This increases students investment in their secret card because they chose it. Once all the cards have been given out, allow students time to read their secret cards and use their dictionaries if they have to. At this point individual students may need some help with pronunciation. When all students are comfortable with their cards ask them to stand up as a class.Then tell them to find their match and when they find the match sit down together at a table.

While students are looking for the match it is a good idea to go around and encourage them to talk with one another. "Have you asked Kenta?" or "Have you spoken to Eri?". It is important that the teacher monitors the students to make sure they are not just showing each other their cards. At such times reinforce your initial instructions, warning individuals out loud, "Don't show your card, Keisuke."

Stage 4: Feedback

Once students are matched go around and collect the cards. While you are collecting, have the students read them back to you to reaffirm the match and congratulate them. The new pair share their success and are praised by teacher which is a good way to foster cohesion before the main task. Now have the students go on with the main task in their new groups. You should notice a significant increase in student motivation during the main task.

Conclusion

This exercise once learnt is a very quick and useful tool in managing large class sizes and long lessons. It provides a good opportunity for the class to communicate with one another in the L2 in order to achieve a very clear set goal. It also creates energy and excitement before an important group task by having the students move around the room and rearrange seating themselves. Most importantly it increases the likelihood of students focusing on the main task because students have shaken off some inertia and the main task is now a bridge between students who might not normally associate with each other.

References

Klippel, Friederike. 2003. Keep Talking, Cambridge University Press.

Norman, David., Ulf Levihn, & Jan Anders Hedenquist, Jan. 2001.Communicative Ideas, Language Teaching Publications

Ten Good Games for Recycling Vocabulary

Mark Koprowski markkoprowski [at] yahoo.com

Introduction

Learning is remembering. If we respect this axiom, the review and recycling of new language items will be critical if they stand a chance of becoming readily accessible in long-term memory. In fact, students do the majority of their forgetting shortly after the lesson and then the rate of forgetting diminishes. To avoid this lexical vanishing act, one solution offered is to follow the 'principle of expanding rehearsal'. This idea suggests that learners review new words shortly after they are presented, and then at increasingly longer intervals. To stimulate long-term memory then, ideally, words would be reviewed 5-10 minutes after class, 24 hours later, one week later, one month later, and finally six months later. Teachers might even consider doing a quick review of words and phrases which were introduced just a short while ago in the lesson. But unless these new language items are noticed and understood on multiple occasions, they will likely fade from memory and be forgotten.

Experts these days concur that learners actually need as many as 5 to 16 'meetings' with a new language item in a variety of contexts before it can be truly learned and activated for genuine use. Teachers then can help solidify new words in long-term memory by creating regular opportunities in their learning program that encourage students to make form-meaning connections of new vocabulary items. Both repetition and retrieval practice of new items are key. In my experience, this is best achieved by organizing fun, competitive, and motivating vocabulary games and activities which adhere to the expanding rehearsal mentioned above. Over the past decade, I've put together a variety of sure-fire and engaging vocabulary recycling activities drawn from a number of sources: resource books, teachers, trainers, and some of which are of my own invention. Give them a try, and have your students start remembering today.

1. Taboo (aka Hot Seat)

Divide the class into Teams A and B. Team A sits in a group on one side of the classroom, Team B sits on the other side. Bring two chairs to the front of the room so that when seated, a student is facing his or her respective team and their back is to the blackboard or white board. One member from each team sits in their team's chair. The teacher writes a word, phrase, or sentence on the board. The students in the chairs mustn't see what's written on the board. Once the teacher yells 'go', the teams have one minute, using only verbal clues, to get their seated teammate to say the item written on the board. The only rule (or taboo) is that they MUSTN'T say the item written on the board, in full or part. The first student in the hot seat to utter the word scores a point for their team. When the round is over, two new team players are rotated into the hot seat and a new item is written up. The first team to score X number of points wins.

Variation: To ensure a slightly quieter and less chaotic game, the teams can take it in turns. Rather than two students in the hot seat, only one member from each team plays at a time. The teacher as usual scribbles a word on the board and gives the team one minute to get their teammate to say the item. If the hot-seated player manages to say the word, the teacher quickly writes another item on the board and so on until the minute is up. The team scores a point for every item they manage to say within one minute.

2. Memory Challenge

Put the students into pairs or small groups. Give them a time limit (e.g. 3 minutes) and ask them to write down as many words, phrases, and/or expressions as they can from the last lesson on topic X. The pair or group that can remember the most items wins.

Variation: To add a spelling accuracy component, teams can also earn an extra point for each correctly spelt item.

3. Last One Standing

Give the class a topic (e.g. food, clothes, animals, things in a kitchen) and ask them to stand up, in a circle if possible. Clap out a beat and say, one, two, three, followed by a topic-related word. After the next three beats, the next student in the circle gives a word related to the topic, and so it continues. Anyone who can't think of a word or repeats a word already said has to sit down and it's the next person's turn. The winner is the last one standing.

4. Pictionary

Divide the class into Teams A and B. Team A sits in a group on one side of the classroom, Team B sits on the other side. One member from each team goes to the board. The teacher flashes them a word, phrase, or expression written on a piece of paper. The students have one minute to get their respective team to say the item only by drawing pictorial clues on the board. Written words, verbal clues, or gestures are forbidden. The first team to say the word scores a point.

Variation: The teams review their notes from prior lessons, and collectively come up with a list of items the other team will have to draw.

5. Bingo

The teacher writes up 10 words, phrases and/or expressions on the board. Each student chooses any 5 of the items from the board and writes them down. The teacher then selects one of the items at random (bits of paper from a hat, for example) and offers a brief definition or synonym of the item but does not say the word itself. If a student thinks they have the word the teacher described, they tick it. When a student ticks all of their words, they shout BINGO!! The first student to shout BINGO wins the round. Additional rounds can be played with different sets of words.

6. Outburst

Divide the class into Teams A and B. The teacher assigns each team a particular topic (e.g. sports, vehicles, things in an office) which is to be kept secret from the other team. Each team meets for 5 minutes in private and collectively draws up a list of ten items related to the topic. After the lists are made, the game begins. The teacher tells Team A the name of Team B's topic. Team A then has one minute to try to guess the items on Team B's list (hence producing a noisy outburst). The members of Team B must listen and tick the items which Team A manages to guess. For every word Team A guesses correctly, they score a point. For every word they miss, Team B gets a point. After the points are recorded, it's Team B turn to guess Team A's list. Additional rounds can be played with different topics assigned by the teacher. The first team to score X number of points wins.

7. Concentration

Divide the class into small groups. Each group is given a set of cards which are spread out on the table face-down. The sets are made up of two kinds of cards: word cards + definition/picture cards. Students in turn pick up a card, turn it over, and try matching it to its corresponding card. If there's no match, the cards are returned to their original place on the table and play passes to the next student. If a match is made, the student keeps the pair and tries to make another match. Once all the cards are matched, the winner is the player who has matched the most number of cards.

Variation: Rather than using word + definition/picture cards, students can match the first and second half of common phrases, expressions, idioms or other multi-word lexical items; e.g. "have" on one card, "a good time" on the other card.

8. Scrambled Letters

Write up eight words with their letters shuffled (e.g. eicscen for science) on the board. When the teacher says 'go', the students, individually or in pairs, endeavor to untangle the words as quickly as they can. The first student or pair, to do so wins. The teacher can then quickly run through each of the scrambled letter groups on the board, eliciting information about each word or concept. Tip: Don't make them too difficult.

Variation: Phrases, expressions, and idioms larger than 2 words can also be used (e.g. "you're having when time flies fun" for "time flies when you're having fun".)

9. Q & A

Write up two separate word lists on the board; an A list and a B list. Assign half the class the A list and the other half list B. Each student takes each word from their list and contextualizes it into a coherent question. Ideally, the question should demonstrate some understanding of the word (e.g. Is your family very hospitable?, NOT What does hospitable mean?). If students need help, they can consult the teacher, their notes, or their textbook. When the students have finished writing their questions, As and Bs pair up and exchange their list of questions. The students read each question and write an answer to the question on the same piece of paper. In their answer, they need to use the same word that is underlined in the question. After the answers are written, the papers are exchanged again and read by the original student.

example:Student A's question: Are there any skyscrapers in New York City? Student B's answer: Yes, New York City has several skyscrapers.

10. Categories (aka The Alphabet Game)

Divide the class into 3 or 4 teams and assign a secretary for each group. On one side of the board, write down six categories related to the current topic or syllabus of your course (e.g. countries, sports, jobs, movies, furniture, verbs, things that are round). To start the game, the teacher randomly selects a letter of the alphabet and scribbles it onto the board. Each team must then work together to quickly find a word for each of the six categories that starts with the chosen letter. The first team to complete all six categories shouts "stop!" The class then stops writing, and a member of the team goes to the board to fill in the categories. The teacher then checks each word with the class and also elicits what other teams had for each category. If the quickest team has filled in each category correctly, they earn one point for their team. The teacher then chooses a different letter and another round is played. The first team to score X number of points wins.

Bibliography

Baddeley, A. 1990. Human Memory: Theory and Practice. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Beck, I.L., M.G. McKeown and R.C. Omanson. 1987. The effects and use of diverse vocabulary instruction techniques. In. M.G. McKeown and M.E. Curtis (Eds.) The Nature of Vocabulary Acquisition: 147-63. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Bloom, K.C. and Shuell, T.J. 1981. Effects of massed and distributed practice on the learning and retention of second-language vocabulary, Journal of Educational Research, 74, 245-248

Gairns R. and S. Redman. 1986. Working with Words. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nation, I.S.P. 1990. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. New York: Newbury House.

Nation, I.S.P. 2001. Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pimsleur, P. 1967. 'A memory schedule'. Modern Language Journal 51/2: 73-5

Thornbury, S. 2002. How to Teach Vocabulary. Pearson ESL.

The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XII, No. 7, July 2006http://iteslj.org/

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Koprowski-RecylingVocabulary.html

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Six Activities for Generating Enthusiasm in the Foreign Language Classroom

Philip Dave Ambardphilip.ambard [at] usafa.af.milUnited States Air Force Academy (Colorado, USA)

Linda Katherine AmbardAcademy School District 20 (Colorado, USA)

Introduction

Motivating students to use acquired target language skills to listen, speak, read, and write is key to foreign language instruction. With these goals in mind, it is helpful to apply everyday activities within the classroom setting to inspire and instruct students. Utilizing the tools of creativity, humor, friendly competition, and tie-in to familiar knowledge of everyday items (i.e. songs, school supplies, body parts, etc.), teachers can create an energized atmosphere conducive to language acquisition and retention. Below are six classroom activities designed to generate enthusiasm and create desired environments. These activities can be easily adapted to fit a wide array of academic settings from elementary students through adult language learners.

Creating a Friendly Monster

Focus: listen, comprehend, and apply

Unit: body parts, numbers, positioning/spatial

The first activity comes after a brief introduction of the body parts using the target language. Here the teacher describes a monster from head to toe in a systematic fashion. Ideally, students stand at the blackboard (recommended if space allows) with chalk or sit at their desks with paper and writing utensils available. Starting with the head, the teacher describes a monster with multiple body parts (i.e. three noses, for arms, two hearts one of which is in his stomach, etc.,) by reading a script slowly and repeatedly. It is important to repeat each descriptor (i.e. the monster had four arms with eight fingers on each hand) at least twice to ensure students fully grasp the meaning. Once a reasonable amount of time has been provided, then the rest of the monster is described in similar fashion.

Once students have drawn their monster, then recognition is given to each student. Depending on the number of students, the teacher may have to creatively invent sufficient awards to ensure all monsters win in at least one category. Categories can include funniest looking monster, monster most likely to be afraid of its own reflection, monster most in need of vitamins to fend off anemia, movie star monster, overly cheerful monster, so on and so forth. Finally, the students name their monster and the activity ends. The monsters can remain on the board until the end for students to admire each other's work until the end of class.

Exotic Foods

Focus: conversation (speaking and listening) and some writing

Unit: foods, colors, numbers, animals, temperatures, etc.

This two part activity can be done over the course of two classes or incorporated with homework. The theme revolves around foods using the target language. Once the students have been acquainted with the names of foods, then they create a menu (breakfast, lunch or dinner) with options. The menu should include drinks, deserts, creative dishes (octopus with spinach sauce over frozen red rice). In fact, students are encouraged to be as creative as possible using colors, food types, numbers, invented dish names (i.e. sardine lasagna), temperatures, and any other descriptors. The menu should include ridiculous prizes such as $17 for three burned eggs over sardines served on a blueberry bagel.

Once the menus have been created, then students role play using the menus. For example, students can work in pairs, in groups of three where one person is the waiter and the others customers, or before the class in a setting that is likely to be entertaining and instructional. Individual teachers should determine which setting will work best for each class.

People, Clothes, Colors

Focus: creative expression, writing, speaking, and listening

Unit: clothes, colors, typical activities

For this activity, students need white bond paper (ideally larger than 8.5 x 11) and a wide variety of markers or crayons. The exercise focuses on a scene or setting (i.e. a bowling game, soccer game, a classroom, a bus stop, etc.). The teacher has the option to let students select a specific scene or assign different scenes to students. Some students may be creative and use an unexpected scene (encouraged) while others may prefer to be given a setting. Here the students draw the participants (animals are also an option since they can be clothes too) using clothing items recently learned. The clothes (scarves, socks, winter coats, shoes, swimming suit, etc.) are colored in using a variety of shades and colors.

Once the students have finished drawing, then they should write a brief description of what is happening in the scene. This needs to include who is wearing what (include colors in the text). Once the text is complete, students present their drawing using the target language to a partner, small group, or even to the class. Encourage creativity (within the norms of classroom acceptable material) and humor. For example, the scene can depict a day at the beach using cats and dogs instead of people. In this case, a dog may be surfing with sunglasses and a swimming suit, while two cats are wearing a suit and drinking lemonade.

Scavenger Hunt

Focus: team work, conversation (speaking and listening), some writing

Unit: classroom items, descriptive words, spatial (i.e. near the door or next to the table)

This activity generates a lot of enthusiasm and encourages team work in the target language. The teacher selects approximately 25 different items to be used in the scavenger hunt. These items are cleverly placed throughout the classroom (teacher designates off-limit places such as desk drawers or private property) prior to class. The activity begins with a quick explanation of what is expected of the students. Then, the teacher hands each team (two or three students per team is ideal) a list of ten items to seek. However, each team receives a list that is slightly different from the other teams (this explains the need for 25 items).

Initially, the students use dictionaries or other sources to determine what each item on the list. Then the fun really begins as teams seek to locate these items quickly. Located items are collected by the teams and brought to their home base (desks). The final phase involves writing a basic sentence (in the target language) using each item on the list (ten sentences in this case). These sentences should briefly describe the item or perhaps disclose where it was located (i.e. the pencil is yellow or the paper clip was near the blackboard). Again, only the target language is used throughout the activity.

Music Mania

Focus: listening, reading, word association

Unit: varies depending on song selection

Here the students work on their listening and reading skills. In some cases, singing is also involved. This activity lasts approximately 10-15 minutes and is quite relaxing to the students. The teacher selects a song tailored to the age and level of the students. Naturally, the song is in the target language. For example, use the song Happy Birthday for little ones or a more contemporary song for older students. The song should contain ideas, words, themes, or concepts currently being studied in class.

The activity begins when the song is played twice for the students. After the second time, the words are placed on the overhead and each student receives a copy of the words. Now the students hear the song and follow along by reading the words. In certain classes the students may be encouraged to sing along as well (more typical of younger classes). Finally, the students are asked to underline unfamiliar words. This leads to a discussion involving the use of contextual clues to assign meaning to unfamiliar words. As an option, fairly advanced classes may be asked to identify verbs in tenses currently being studied (conditional, past, future, etc.) or other grammar related topics.

Simon Says

Focus: listen, apply instructions, and eventually lead the activity

Unit: body parts, classroom items, movement, spatial

Simon says is a terrific game ideally used towards the end of the class session. In fact, this game can be used to encourage students to apply themselves during class with the knowledge that this fun game lurks around the corner.

Initially, the teacher leads the class. Subsequently, students take turns playing the role of Simon. This game is effective if played periodically and if everyone gets a chance to lead the class at some point.

The rules are very simple. Using only the target language, the leader has everyone stand and await instructions. The commands may be as simple as Simon says touch your nose, Simon says clap twice, Simon says raise your right leg and count to ten, and so on. The trick is that only commands preceded by the phrase "Simon Says" are to be followed. Anyone who performs an action that was not preceded by "Simon Says" (i.e. touch your ears or do two jumping jacks) sits and is out of the game. Eventually, only a few students remain standing and reducing the number of players may be quite challenging.

This game captivates everyone and produces a lot of laughter and humor. Even students who are eliminated from competition want follow along to see how their classmates perform. Leaders are encouraged to be creative (within established limits) when issuing instructions. The use of movements, incorporation of body parts, and application of understood instructions make this fun game a valuable learning tool.

Digging Deeper into Songs: A Writing Activity

Steven Kenneth Aholasteboahola [at] hotmail.comKansai Gaidai University (Osaka, Japan)

This lesson plan for intermediate and advanced ESL/EFL students offers teachers a writing activity where the students analyze the lyrics to one of their favorite English songs

Introduction

It probably isnt unusual for instructors to incorporate music into their lessons at some point during the year. Perhaps, there are some instructors who have their students listen to music and write down the words or key phrases they hear on a prepared handout. When I use music in my classes, I have my students go beyond just listening to songs by having them analyze the song lyrics. This activity allows the students to look more closely at the meaning of songs.

Lesson Plan

Levels: Intermediate and advanced

Materials: A sample song with a copy of the lyrics for each student, a sample song lyrics analysis paper, CD or tape player, paper, and pens

Preparation

Step 1

Find an English song in which the students can easily identify the meaning of the song and make a copy of the lyrics for each student. I suggest songs written by singers and songwriters such as the Beatles.

Step 2

Write your own sample song lyrics analysis paper so that students will have a model to follow while drafting. I recommend that your model be at least one page and include a short introduction, one or two body paragraphs, and a short conclusion. The body paragraph or paragraphs should address the meaning of the song by analyzing specific lyrics.

Step 3

Before the day of the lesson, you should instruct the students to bring in a copy of some lyrics for an English song which they enjoy; they should know all the vocabulary in the song. The students may find these lyrics on numerous websites.

The Lesson

Step 1

Explain to the students that the purpose of the lesson is to think more deeply about songs and to write a paper about the song they brought to class.

Step 2

Give each student a copy of the song lyrics you prepared. With the students following along, play the song once. Then, help the students understand all of the songs vocabulary and/or expressions.

Step 3

Ask some questions relating to the song: What happens in the song? What is the song about? What are some specific lyrics which convey the meaning of the song? Why do you think the writer wrote the song? During this part of the lesson, it is important for the students to understand the meaning of the song and its message to the listeners.

Step 4

Once the students answer the questions in Step 3, introduce the writing activity where the students will analyze the lyrics from a song of their choosing. I suggest the students write three paragraphs; paragraph one, a brief introduction telling about the song and some general information on the musician/group and/or telling why they like the song; paragraph two, the body of the paper which includes specific lyrics and analysis of them; paragraph three, a short conclusion. For the body paragraphs, you should stress to the students that they are not to write a summary of the song. One way to alleviate this problem is for the students to write specifically about the lyrics and how those lyrics support the songs message.

Step 5

Read over the sample song lyrics analysis paper you prepared beforehand.

Step 6

Allow students time to draft their paragraphs. Circulate around the room in order to check if the students are analyzing the song lyrics.

Step 7 (optional)

Students should be given some time (about a week) to draft and type their paper. Also, they should include the song lyrics with their paper.

Conclusion

This activity provides an opportunity for students to think about the meaning of songs. This digging deeper seems to connect closely with one of the major purposes of college: to get students to think more critically about the world around them. By analyzing song lyrics, the students are making a step into the critical-thinking world. One of my students commented on this activity: Music is a big part of my life and for me to be able to sit down and analyze one of my favorite songs was very cool.

Student Created Song Exercises

Paul A. Cunningham cunningh [at] rikkyo.ac.jp Rikkyo University (Tokyo, Japan)

There is nothing new about using songs in class. The international appeal of music can unlock interest in even the shyest and most reserved students by engaging them in a real listening medium. Songs have often been used to supplement listening classes, and depending on the content of the song, other classes such as writing and culture as well. Typically, teachers simply cloze the lyrics of the song and may prepare several comprehension type questions. Recently, there have been a number of song book texts published which include ready made listening exercises to go along with each song.

After creating and sometimes using commercially available song exercises for years, I started to enlist my students in this activity. After making and doing the first song exercise in class, I explain to the students how they can make the same kind of exercises. I then ask each student to select a song and to prepare a similar exercise on a week by week basis. This not only offers the same benefits as song exercises that I have brought to class, but it involves the students, too. They need to think about songs that would work well with this type of activity. They need to make decisions about how to cloze the song and how to write questions about it. They need to understand and to think about the meaning of the lyrics. It is also refreshing for the students and me to hear new songs -- songs that are meaningful to the students. An added benefit is that the students bring in the CD or tape, which permits the teacher to follow the copyright law.

Here is a set of guidelines and some suggestions for doing this activity:

appropriate level: all levels

objectives: listening, reading and thinking practice; song exercise design; fun

approximate time: 15-30 minutes per song

preparation time: none for teacher; about one hour per student

necessary materials: none

necessary equipment: a CD or tape player

implementation procedure: teacher makes first song exercise, does the activity in class, and then asks the students to follow the procedure below

1. Pick a song that you like and is meaningful to you in some way.

2. Make sure the lyrics of the song are clear and easy to follow.

3. Type, write or photocopy the lyrics on one A4 (standard size) sheet of paper

4. Make deletions to the text based on deleting every nth word or selective words of your choice. (There should not be more than one deletion per line.) Make sure that each deleted word is clearly audible.

5. In place of each deleted word, draw a line or parentheses wide enough for the word to be filled in. (Underlined blanks can be a solid line or a broken line to indicate the number of letters in the deleted word.)

6. Make sure that the chorus of the song is clearly marked.

7. Make 3-5 comprehension type questions that refer to the song and type or write them on another A4 sheet of paper.

8. Bring these sheets of paper to class, along with the accompanying CD or tape, the week before your song exercise is due.

9. The teacher has one week to make photocopies and to think about working the song into the following lesson. (These song exercises can be done on a stand alone basis, too, (i.e. as a separate activity).

10. Do the song exercise in class. The teacher can lead this activity or ask the student who created it to take over. Either way, the student should bring the answers to class and be prepared to help interpret the lyrics of the song.

Occasionally a student will bring in a song that doesn't work well (such as some heavy metal songs). In my experience this occurrence has been very rare -- maybe one per class. Most of the songs exercises have been well conceived, thoughtfully prepared and have worked well in class.

A Four-Unit EFL Course for Adults

A Complete Set of Handouts to Use in the Classroom

For several years I have been teaching four-day summer classes which are open to the community at a local college. The classes are open to men and women of all ages and all backgrounds. As it turns out, the members of the classes are mostly women of ages spanning over forty years. For each of the four days we have one theme. I have chosen four themes that I think are the most practical: Meeting Someone, Shopping, At A Restaurant and Traveling. Each lesson consists of several segments, most of which are connected to that day's theme. To compensate for the difference in abilities, I explain almost everything first in English and then in Japanese.

Day 1

I usually walk into the first day of class and tell everybody my name, where I live and where I'm from in English. Then, right away, I switch to Japanese and explain what I expect to do in the next four days. I tell them that we are going to try to use English as a communication tool, practicing what we already know rather than trying to learn more words or sentence patterns. I explain that we're all going to make a lot of mistakes and stress that the only person in the room whose native language was English was me and so I was the only one who could (but, hopefully wouldn't) be expected to use perfect English. I have found that the more I go on about this the happier and the more relaxed the class is.

Next, I explain that I will introduce myself in English and that they should try to listen for what they can understand. What they can't understand they should guess at and not let bother them. I introduce myself, talk about my family and Minnesota (where I'm from) and include an anecdote or two in Japanese. Afterwards, I pass out the four days of handouts explaining that we probably won't have time to do everything. I have found that handing out all four day's worth is the best because it gives those with the time a chance to prepare for the next day. I point out the introduction Quiz in the Day 1 handout and ask them to fill in as much as they can. I go around the room helping the ones who find it difficult.

I ask the members to pair up with someone who has about the same English ability and we practice the Meeting Someone For The First Time section and the What/Who Is Your Favorite..... section. I try to get everyone to learn to volunteer information before they ask a question and have constructed my pair practices to reinforce this. I explain that it is not only a friendlier way to ask someone a question but it is also easier and less time consuming. With an outgoing group I encourage them to practice with several partners. For advanced students I suggest that they add their own questions.

The amount of time that I spend on Pronunciation depends on the group. I talk about some of the sounds and explain that pronunciation practice is a good way to improve listening abilities. After I have them repeat the sound groups I read one of the minimal word pairs and have them circle the words that they hear. If there are a lot of the mistakes and there seems to be some interest I practice those sounds again.

Day 2

After warming up with the Day 2 pair practice I continue on with useful Shopping shopping phrases and a short explanation about money. Having real examples of US, Canadian, Australian dollars, some coins, a personal checkbook and a credit card helps the explanation, raises the interest level and helps the stragglers to keep up. I usually try to take a number of English language catalogs to show, explain and pass around. Then, I hand out a stack of Thriftway Supermarket newspaper ads to each pair and had them answer the questions in the Thriftway Quiz. The outside materials seem to generate a lot of interest. In the quizzes I tried to include questions that would call attention to interesting differences in customs and be a starting point for discussions.

Day 3

I take three or four different menus to explain and then a stack of the same kind of menu to hand out. Tipping and table manners seem to be a good starting point for discussions.

Day 4

On the last day I take travel brochures, guides and maps to pass around and discuss. Asking what countries members have been to, where they would like to go, what to pack for an overseas trip or where to take a visitor from overseas all seem to generate discussion.

Useful Classroom Sentences

I don`t understand. I don`t know. Pardon? Once more, please. What does ________________ mean? How do you say ________________ in English? How do you spell _______________? Is this OK?

Getting To Know Each Other

What's your name?

My name is........................................................................

Where do you live?

I live ..................................................................................

Where were you born?

I was born in ....................................................................

How many brothers and sisters do you have?

I have...........................brother(s) and.........................sister(s). .

Where did you go to school?

I went to ............................................................................

Are you married?

Yes, I am. / No, I'm not.

Do you have any children?

Yes, I have ................................................. / No, I don't.

What do you do?

I work at a ...................... / I am a housewife. / I am a student.

What do you like to do?

I like to ..............................................................................

......................................................... ?

............................................................................................

......................................................... ?

............................................................................................

A Quiz . . . . . . . How Much Did You Understand?

Mr. Vorland lives in ______________________ . He lives with his wife, Yuri, his oldest daughter, ________________ , his youngest daughter, Maia, and his son, ________________. Mr. Vorland was born in _____________________ . He likes to ________________________ and _________________________ . Minnesota is unbelievably ________________ in winter. The Minnesota state bird is the ___________________ . There are about ________________ lakes there.

Meeting Someone For the First Time

A Hi, my name is ____________________ . B Hello, I`m ____________________ . Where are you from? A I live in Nagoya. How about you? B I live in Nagoya, too. A Are you married? B Yes, I am. (No, I`m not.) A Do you have any children? B Yes, I have two children. One daughter is ten and the other is five. A Nice to meet you. B Nice to meet you, too.

Write About Yourself

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What/Who Is Your Favorite . . . . . ?

My favorite fruit is .................. . What is your favorite fruit?

I like ....................best. What is your favorite color?

..................... is my favorite food. What is your favorite food?

............................................. What is your favorite sport?

............................................. What is your favorite month?

............................................. What is your favorite ice cream?

............................................. Who is your favorite actor?

............................................. Who is your favorite leader?

............................................. Who is your favorite musician?

............................................. Who is your favorite sportsman?

............................................. Who is your favorite singer?

Pronunciation . . . . . . . Vowels

be big best am bus do book all clock age

need did bread and but juice could caught drop cake

clean fish dress back done new good saw got day

by down go boy first born are clear air fire

five how hope coin girl door art ear chair hire

like loud road toy learn more hard here hair tire

1. a. eat b. it 6. a. dead b. dad

2. a. laid b. led 7. a. made b. mad

3. a. said b. sad 8. a. fun b. fan

4. a. not b. note 9. a. fond b. found

5. a. cot b. caught 10. a. book b. back

Getting To Know Each Other . . . . . Partner 1

1. I live (in, near)____________. Where do you live?

2. I like ________________. Do you like sports?

3. I have been to ____________. Do you like to travel?

4. I like ____________. What is your favorite ____________?

5. I like to play ____________. Do you like games?

6. I like ____________. What foods do you like?

7. My telephone number is ____. What`s your telephone number?

8. My blood type is____________. What`s your blood type?

9. I like ____________. What kind of music do you like?

10. I like to ____________. What do you like to do?

Getting To Know Each Other . . . . . Partner 2

1. I go shopping (in, at) ____________. Where do you go shopping?

2. I was born in ____________. Where were you born?

3. I will go to ____________. Where will you go this summer?

4. I like ____________. Who is your favorite actress? (actor)

5. I like to drink ____________. What do you like to drink?

6. I like ____________. Do you like sports?

7. I like ____________. What is your favorite color?

8. I don`t like ____________. What foods do you dislike?

9. I like ____________. What baseball team do you like?

10. My hobby is ____________. What is your hobby?

Shopping

The store clerk:

May I help you? / Can I help you?

Are you looking for something?

What size?

Cash or charge?

Have a nice day!

The customer:

I`m looking for a summer sweater.

Where are the shoes?

Do you have winter coats?

How much is this?

Do you have this in size seven?

Money:

bills, coins, cash, personal check, charge card, plastic money, traveler`s checks,

100 cents ( ) = 1 dollar ( $ )

$ .25

twenty-five cents

a quarter

$ .99

ninety-nine cents

$ 2.50

two dollars and fifty cents

two and a half dollars

$ 89.99

eighty-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents

eighty-nine ninety-nine

In a Supermarket

A Do you have rice?

B Yes, we do. Its here.

A Where are the soft drinks?

B Over there.

A Thanks.

In a Convenience Store

A How much is this ice cream?

B It`s $ .75.

A Do you have chocolate?

B Sorry, we only have vanilla.

A OK. Ill take two.

In a Shoe Store

A Can I help you?

B Yes, I`m looking for some jogging shoes.

A What color?

B White.

A What size?

B Seven and a half.

A Just a minute..................... Please try them on.

B They`re just right. How much are they?

A They`re $69.99.

B I`ll take them.

A Cash or charge?

B Traveler`s checks.

Make a Shopping Dialog With Your Partner

Where?________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Quiz . . . . . . . Thriftway

6. When is this sale?

7. What kind of store is it?

8. What is cheap in this store?

9. What is expensive in this store?

10. How much are Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit?

11. How much is a half gallon of ice cream?

12. How much is a 12 pack of Michelob Beer?

13. How much is a 5 lb. Fresh Maple Leaf Duck?

14. What can you buy this week that you can`t usually buy?

15. Would you buy a Garden Salad Mix? Why?

Pronunciation . . . . . . . Consonants

but chance do for get his just can last many

been change did find go he July cake long me

back chair dog fast game who jump keep let most

not put write same she to think that very was

now page read say short time thanks they violin one

name pay rich so shoes test thing this visit week

1. a. just b. dust 6. a. base b. vase

2. a. long b. wrong 7. a. cheap b. keep

3. a. see b. she 8. a. road b. load

4. a. they b. day 9. a. hue b. few

5. a. bog b. dog 10. a. shell b. sell

Getting To Know Each Other . . . . . Partner 1

1. ____________________ . Do you like sports?

2. ____________________ . Do you listen to the radio every day?

3. ____________________ . Do you like spaghetti?

4. ____________________ . Did you eat breakfast this morning?

5. ____________________ . Did you read a book this week?

6. ____________________ . Do you use the telephone often?

7. ____________________ . Is your birthday in July?

8. ____________________ . What do you like to cook?

9. ____________________ . Was English difficult in high school?

10. ____________________ . Is your family from Nagoya?

Getting To Know Each Other . . . . . Partner 2

1. ____________________ . Do you like to study?

2. ____________________ . Do you go shopping often?

3. ____________________ . Do you enjoy watching television?

4. ____________________ . Did you go to _________ last summer?

5. ____________________ . Did you talk to your friend recently?

6. ____________________ . Did you play sports recently?

7. ____________________ . Is your house near _______________?

8. ____________________ . Do you like summer?

9. ____________________ . Was your father a _____________?

10. ____________________ . Were you a good student?

At a Restaurant

The waitress:

Smoking or non-smoking?

This way, please.

Would you like something to drink?

What kind of beer would you like?

Are you ready to order?

How would you like your steak?

.....(rare, medium, well done)

How would you like your potato?

.....(baked, mashed, fried, French fries)

What vegetable would you like?

What kind of salad dressing would you like?

How would you like your coffee?

.....(black, cream, sugar, decaf)

Would you care for dessert?

Is everything all right?

The customer:

Waitress! / Waiter!

Coffee, please.

Do you have apple pie?

I'd like a hamburger, please.

This is cold.

Check, please.

In a Coffee Shop

A Coffee, please.

B Cream or sugar?

A Black. Do you have decaf?

.....(decaffeinated coffee)

B Yes, we do.

A I'll take decaf.

In a Fast Food Store

A Two cheeseburgers, fries and a coke, please.

B What size coke and fries?

A Medium coke, small fries.

B It'll take about 3 minutes. Is that OK?

A Sure.

In a Restaurant

A A table for two, please.

B Smoking or non-smoking?

A Non-smoking.

B This way, please. . . . Would you like something to drink?

A A bottle of your house white wine.

B Here you are. . . . . . . Are you ready to order?

A I'll have a sirloin steak with a baked potato and onion soup.

B How would you like your steak?

A Medium.

B What kind of salad dressing would you like?

A What do you have?

B Thousand Island, French, Italian and Russian.

A Thousand Island.

B What would you like for dessert?

A Nothing, thanks.

B . . . . . . Is everything OK?

A Yes, everything's fine.

Make a Shopping Dialog With Your Partner

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Quiz . . . . Mangy Moose

1. Is this an expensive restaurant?

2. Is the salad bar big?

3. How much are two dozen wings?

4. How much is coconut cream pie?

5. How much is Alaskan King Crab?

6. How much is Beef Stir Fry?

7. What is made from scratch daily?

8. Can you find a Japanese word?

9. What restaurant would you like to go to?

10. What would you like to order?

Pronunciation . . . . . . . Consonants

you zoo black bread beauty draw dwell fly from few

use zero blood break bugle dream dwarf floor front future

year zebra blow break beautiful dress dweller flat friend fuse

glad great human class cry quit place present school screen

glass green humor clean crazy quick play pretty sky scream

glove grow huge climb cream quiet please price score screw

1. a. glass b. grass 6. a. very b. berry

2. a. Sue b. zoo 7. a. climb b. crime

3. a. hues b. fuse 8. a. grow b. glow

4. a. fly b. fry 9. a. scream b. screen

5. a. pray b. play 10. a. police b. please

Getting To Know Each Other . . . . . Partner 1

1. I have been to __________ . Have you?

2. I like to eat ____________ . Do you?

3. I like to go to _____________. Do you?

4. I like to watch ____________ . Do you?

5. I enjoy ___________ . Do you?

6. I often ____________ . Do you?

7. I am ___________ centimeters tall. How about you?

8. I can ____________ . Can you?

9. I study English because ____________ . Why do you study?

10. I sometimes _____________. What about you?

Getting To Know Each Other . . . . . Partner 2

1. Where is ___________?

2. What is north ( south, east, west) of ____________?

3. Which way is ____________?

4. How far is _____________ from Nagoya?

5. How can I go to __________________?

6. How many kilometers is it to _________________?

7. How much time does it take to get to _________ from here?

8. What is the best way to go to ______________?

Traveling

Asking Directions:

Where is the post office?

Which way is the post office?

How far is the post office?

How can I get to the post office?

Giving Directions:

Turn right at the bank.

It's two miles east of here.

Go north two blocks.

.....(north, south, east, west)

It's next to the Esso gas station.

In Front Of The Department Store

A Excuse me. Where is Thriftway Supermarket?

B It's near the post office.

A How can I get there?

B Go south three blocks. It's on the left.

A Thanks.

Looking For the International Hotel

A Is this the way to the International Hotel?

B Yes, it is.

A How far is it?

B About 5 minutes.

A Thanks.

Staying At a Hotel

Useful Sentences:

This is Itoh in room 307.

Please wake me at six.

Please pick up my suit for dry cleaning.

I'd like a bottle of champagne.

When does the bar open?

Please pick up my bags in room 307.

At The Hotel

A My name is Tanaka. I have a reservation.

B Yes, your room is 307. Here's your key.

A Please send up my bags.

B Yes, sir. / Yes, ma'am.

Sightseeing

Useful Sentences:

What tours do you have of the city?

Where is the museum?

What tourist attractions do you recommend?

I'd like to rent a car.

Do you have a map?

Where can I find information?

At The Front Desk

A What tourist attractions do you recommend?

B The aquarium is nice.

A How can I get there?

B Take the number 25 bus.

A How much does the bus cost?

B It costs $1.50.

A How much time does it take?

B About 20 minutes.

A What time does the aquarium open?

B It opens at 9:30.

A Thanks.

Make a Dialog With Your Partner

Where?________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Quiz . . . . . Jackson Hole Picture Map

1. What state is this map from?

2. Is the food good at the Sugarfoot Cafe?

3. What number is the Village Inn near?

4. How many banks are there in Jackson Hole?

5. What restaurant is near the 49er Inn?

6. What are two Chinese Restaurant names ?

7. What would you like to do and see?

Pronunciation . . . . . . . Consonants

square shrine sleep small snow speak spring stamp straight three

squid shrimp slow smell snake speech spray stand strong throw

squeak shrink slipper smile snore sport spread star street throat

laughs maps guests belt bath six hats baths cant tenth

graphs steps rests adult with likes cats deaths went seventh

coughs trips tests insult teeth cakes visits paths count ninth

1. a. tense b. tenth 6. a. straights b. straight

2. a. bath b. bass 7. a. tease b. teeth

3. a. rest b. rests 8. a. throw b. throat

4. a. pass b. paths 9. a. stray b. spray

5. a. square b. scare 10. a. THE b. END

The Internet TESL JournalPreparing EFL Learners for Oral Presentations

Introduction

This article provides tips and advice to reduce EFL learners' anxieties for oral presentation. Step-by-step procedures of how to prepare students for oral presentations are included: (1) handout guidelines; (2) grouping learners; (3) choosing topics and gathering information; (4) handling technical problems; (5) holding Q & A sessions; and (6) preparing peer and teacher evaluation forms.

Oral presentation is an effective communicative activity that has been widely adopted by EFL conversation teachers to promote oral proficiency. However, when oral presentations are assigned in class, the teacher will get either complete silence or grumbles from students who find the idea of oral presentations frustrating and intimidating. Students are overwhelmed with the research and communication skills that are necessary for a successful presentation. Some serious students who invest time and effort into an oral presentation do not always get the intended outcomes. Other students try to get through the ordeal as quickly as possible, but do not improve their speaking skills under such stressful situations. Thus oral presentations can be a time-consuming project with no guarantee of a satisfactory performance.

The question of whether the adaptation of a mainly student-centered approach would be appropriate in EFL context, especially in Asia, where are still basically teacher-centered is often raised. Many Asian teachers wonder how many students can learn from such experience because oral presentations take quite a large of amount of class time. An obvious gap between the current level of performance and the intended learning experience often results in a breakdown of language production and frustration for students.

The need for establishing a comfortable and low-threat learning environment, from the perspective of second language acquisition, has long been emphasized and recognized. The less anxious and more relaxed the learner, the better language acquisition proceeds. The delivery of an oral presentation is a source of extreme anxiety. Anxiety causes performance to deteriorate and affects novice speakers' self-esteem and confidence. Particularly for Asian students, oral presentations are a face-threatening activity.

However, oral presentations, if properly guided and organized, provide a learning experience and teach life long skills that will be beneficial to learners in all school subjects as well as later in their careers. Among the many advantages of making oral presentations for the students are: bridging the gap between language study and language use; using the four language skills in a naturally integrated way; helping students to collect, inquire, organize and construct information; enhancing team work; and helping students become active and autonomous learners.

In addition, with the availability of new technology both at school and home, students incorporate video cameras, slide projectors, PowerPoint, VCR/DVD and other visual aids into their presentations which become more exciting and interesting.

Coping with Speech Anxiety and Practicing Presentation Skills

Speech anxiety and limited presentation skills are the major problems that lead to learners' oral presentation failures. In order to help students effectively cope with their fear of oral presentations, it is essential for teachers to acknowledge that speech anxiety is perfectly normal. Having an open discussion on speech anxiety will assist students to feel that they are not alone. Fortunately, we can get some insights from psychotherapy and speech communication literature, which can be used to assist students to overcome their public speaking anxieties. The following tips and advice to reduce their anxieties will certainly better prepare students for oral presentations.

1. Emphasize the Difference Between Spoken English and Written English.

A total dependence on memorization is the pattern followed by most EFL presenters who usually have trouble adapting information to spoken English for the audience. The reading of written English, with complex sentences and low frequency words, further impedes audience's listening comprehension. Instead of using a conversational tone and communicative English, they have long pauses while fiddling with their notes. The audience feels bored when they have to listen to a tedious reading or word-for-word memorized speech from a presenter who reads rapidly and monotonously throughout the presentation. Reciting from passages copied down from references makes the presentations sound canned, machine-like and dull. A listener's attention span shortens when he/she cannot follow the speech and the speaker gets worse when he senses that his listeners are inattentive and losing interest in his presentation. Thus presenters often lose command of their voice, tone, and pacing. Students should use note cards as reminders of what they are going to say. It is much easier to establish rapport with the audience by only referring to the note cards occasionally and make eye contact with the audience.

2. Explain the Purpose of Visual Aids.

There are many advantages in using visual aids during the presentation. Visual aids can create a powerful effect, help keep students' attention, and illustrate main ideas. The basic rule is to use visual aids to support the presentation, not to dominate it. However, the disadvantage of overusing visual aids is that the attention of the audience will be divided and students may stand aside and have visual aids take their place.

3. Help Students to Conquer the Fear of Making Grammatical or Pronunciation Errors.

Inform the learners that they will not be graded by the mistakes they make. Hand out the grading criteria to all learners while assigning this activity. Good English learners are willing to take risks and accept errors. Poor English learners like to use only language that they are certain is correct.

4. Develop Students' Summarizing and Outlying Skills.

If students' past English learning experiences have been basically teacher-controlled and test-oriented, they used to work on memorizing detailed grammatical rules, vocabulary out of contexts and isolated phrases or expressions by which their test grades based on. Learning to produce a well-organized and coherent outline can be very helpful to learners since an outline can give audiences a clear and concise overview of the key points of the talk.

Preparing students these prerequisite skills is important in getting them ready for any project work, otherwise students will feel that the teacher has just dumped them into the sea to struggle for survival. They may feel frustrated and overwhelmed. Passive resistance and grumbling are common signs manifested by students who do not appreciate and are even hostile to this project. Lack of experience is usually the main producer of student stress and nervousness. Experience builds confidence, which is vital to effective oral presentations.

The Teacher's Role

Working with students on oral presentations is a challenging job for teachers because it not only involves training in other disciplines such as speech communication and public speaking, but also demands more of teachers in terms of time and effort in lesson planning and teaching strategies. On the student's part, the student-centered activity asks students to be responsible for their own learning. When a teacher moves from the traditional role of teacher as an authoritative expert to the new role of facilitator of learning, students feel a drastic change. With such a student-led activity as oral presentation, teachers need to have some psychological preparation for meeting the resistance from students, since some of them are not receptive to project learning and are uncomfortable when given autonomy. Furthermore, the importance of creating a supportive learning atmosphere, acquiring interaction skills, incorporating project work, developing cooperative learning skills and applying computer/technology in enhancing teachers' facilitative skills should be emphasized. The teacher is the guide, organizer, consultant, resource person, and supporter.

The teacher's role in oral presentations not only involves preparing detailed guidelines, organizing groups, helping students to select topics, guiding their research and helping them learn the use of various visual aids, but also the holding of Q & A sessions, providing feedback on the sequencing of ideas, and evaluating their performance. Step-by-step procedures of how to prepare students for successful oral presentations are as follows:

Step 1: Handout Guidelines

Since oral presentations involve multi-skills, a carefully planned and constructed guideline will help develop students' receptiveness to oral presentations. Listing instructional objectives and explaining reasons for this activity can increase student participation and may always result in a heightening of satisfaction and achievement.

Hand out assignment forms (Appendix A) to organize students and help them distribute jobs among themselves.

Stress the time limit of presentations. If it is a twenty five-minute presentation, it will probably be thirty-five minutes in class, allowing for pauses, operating machines, and receiving questions from students. The teacher may need another five minutes of class time to have students fill out peer evaluation forms.

Offer students a choice of giving the presentation in class or taping their presentation on a video. However, live presentations work much better than video presentations that usually detach the audience from the presenter.

Grading criteria clearly states the teacher's expectations for presentations.

Step 2: Grouping and Scheduling Student Presentations

It is challenging to plan presentations for a large EFL class. Group projects with 4-5 students in one group will save class time, develop cooperative learning skills and reduce the anxiety of being a single presenter. In order to have a dynamic group, with a feeling of cohesiveness and togetherness, even though learners come from diverse learning styles, the teacher needs to be familiar with a variety of cooperative group techniques.

Groups of 4-5 students in a class of 50 work best1 and scheduling two groups every other week throughout the semester is a good plan..

Have students choose their own partners, since it is much easier for students to work out their own schedules for getting together outside the classroom. If the teacher groups students from different departments together, there can be time conflicts among them.

One student is chosen as the coordinator or leader, responsible for evenly distributing the assignments among members.

Step 3: Choosing Topics and Gathering Information

Projects provide opportunities to study interesting topics in detail, and to explore factors of successful presentation planning. Learners are free to choose any topic they prefer in three categories: event-or goal-oriented; student-initiated; and in-depth topic studies, in order to enhance their self-expression and creativity. Low-level students are not required to choose a topic that necessitates research, although they are encouraged to do so. It is interesting to see the variety of topics presented by students. Some students enjoy making skits of fairy tales. The reason for that may be their limited English proficiency, maturity and interest. Some advanced students' topics deal more with issues pertinent to university students or current events. Topics presented by students in the past were categorized as follows: performing arts, culture and customs, fairy tales and short stories, current issues, sports, holidays and American culture, the student's field of specialization, hobbies, scripts from the TV shows, entertainment and shows, traveling and tourist spots, and newspaper articles.

Inform students where the resources are --English newspapers, magazines, websites, questionnaires, surveys, interviews, library research, radio programs, English teaching institutes, travel brochures, and video.

Show topics chosen by students in previous classes and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of them. Use some previous students' videotapes as demos.

Step 4: Handling Technical Problems

It is important for students to know in advance how to handle the equipment themselves. A discussion about the equal importance of both the rehearsal and the performance will prevent students from technical surprises and panic on the day of the presentation. Usually, students concentrate all their energies on performance and forget to check machines in advance and assume everything will happen as they plan or expect. Often they expect the teacher to fix their technical problems at the last minute. However, wasted class time in fixing facility machinery can adversely affect the presentation, and even be a cause of failure at worst or the need for presenters to represent their material on another day.

Show supporting materials they can use, such as posters, videotapes, props, artwork, costumes...etc.

Tell students what facilities are available in the language lab and the school such as data viewer, VCR/DVD, tape recorder, PowerPoint, and slide projector etc. Answer possible problems that they may come up with their equipment. For example, for outdoor V8 shooting, students need to be aware of sound effect.

Students should know how to handle the equipment themselves and make sure everything is working a week before the presentation. They need to come to the class early to set up the equipment and become familiar with it.

Have time count for reviewing video clips and wind them to the correct spot.

Make sure writings and illustrations are big enough to be seen from the back of the room.

Prepare a microphone for learners in advance to make sure good voice quality, so the teacher does not need to ask shy presenters to project their voice in a big room.

Ask students to keep eyes on the audience when talking about transparencies or PowerPoint. If possible, control the lighting by not turning off the lights completely and always leave a light on in the back of the room, so the audience can still remain eye contact with the presenter.

Also remind students to refer to the image or texts on the projector. Allow time for the audience to read longer texts, otherwise there is no point putting them on.

Step 5: Holding Q & A Sessions

These short sessions are like quality control that is necessary and helpful in ensuring effective presentations. Teachers can spot possible difficulties students might encounter and prevent the problems.

Check with the group about what they are going to do a week before their presentation.

Encourage students to contact the teacher if they run into any problems; for example, students may have difficulties pronouncing words.

Step 6: Preparing Peer and Teacher Evaluation Forms

The peer evaluation form (Appendix B) provides the presenters with feedback from other students. Students will not only evaluate their peers, but also learn each group's strong and weak points from presentations. The teacher evaluation form (Appendix C) should be given to students while assigning the work. It can be used as a guideline for students to prepare their presentations. In this way, students are informed in advance of the criteria by which their presentations will be evaluated. It is helpful for students to know the teacher's expectations and grading criteria.

Individual accountability and grades based on the average of the team's individual scores can help to avoid "free-rider effect" and the "sucker effect" these pitfalls of using cooperative learning.

Conclusion

Even though there are some arguments about the appropriateness and constraints of oral presentation in an EFL learning environment as mentioned earlier, however, with structured planning and organization, oral presentations can be a beneficial and enjoyable activity with learners. Both teachers and students are expecting a break away from textbooks. Each week, students come to class with great anticipation and excitement. It is a rewarding experience for low achieving students who had either given up on English or were intimated by past English learning experiences. The introduction of oral presentations to EFL classrooms provides a rewarding and stimulating experience both for teachers in developing facilitating skills and for students in training themselves to have confident presentations in public.

Note

1The oral presentation activity was developed for sophomore listening and speaking lab classes at Soochow University, Taiwan. It is a one-year required course for all majors. Usually, a class of forty-five students will have a mixture of students from five or more departments.

Appendix A

Assignment Form

Group Number:_________________Presentation Date:______________ Topic:__________________________________________________ Summary of Content: Resources:__ Group Coordinator:_______________________________________ Group Members: Name Role Assignment Grade 1_________________________________________________________ 2_________________________________________________________ 3_________________________________________________________ 4_________________________________________________________ 5_________________________________________________________

Appendix B

Student Evaluation Form

Topic______________________________________________________ What did you like best about this presentation? __________________________________________________________ What are some ways to improve this presentation? __________________________________________________________ Did you learn anything new? What skills or advice could you use in the future? __________________________________________________________

Appendix C

Teacher Evaluation Form

Group Number____Date____Topic___________________________________________

Preparation

___came to the class early to set up equipment

___made sure all equipments in working condition

___turned in assignment sheet

Organization

___clear introduction

___logical development

___strong conclusion

___typed and clear outline

Content

___variety of resources

___amount of research conducted

___originality

Presentation

___held audiences' attention

___spoke with note cards

___Eye contact

___time control

___volume of voice

___effectiveness of visual aids

Oral skills

___adapted the information for the audience (communicative English)

___clarity & fluency

___provided discussion questions or class activities

___involved the audience

Overall Group Rating_____________

Teacher comments__________________________________________

The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VIII, No. 3, March 2002 http://iteslj.org/

http://iteslj.org/Lessons/King-PublicSpeaking.html

Evaluation Sheet for ESL/EFL Speech Practice

Connell Wayne Regnercwregner@hotmail.comKashiwa Municipal Board of Education (Japan)

This is a sheet for grading students' overall speech performance and gives them immediate feedback on their main strengths and weaknesses. It's good for helping students prepare for speech contests.

Student's name: _____________________ Class: ___________________

Scores : 1 to 10 Highest Score 10 (circle appropriate numbers)

Physical Performance body language, eye contact etc.,1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Pronunciation and intonation1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Clarity of expression and voice projection1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Speed of deliverytoo slow 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 too fast

Grammatical accuracy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Score out of 50 ________________________

Practicing Pronunciation through Proverbs

Yi Yangyangyi [at] gse.harvard.edu

Practicing pronunciation can be very tedious. Proverbs, however, will give fun. For example, when practicing "a", students will prefer reading "No pains, no gains" to some monotonous sentences such as "He looks pale today."

Sentences with several words involving the same sound are good materials for practicing that sound. Many proverbs contain the rhetorical devices related to sound such as alliteration, rhyme and repetition, and thus very suitable for pronunciation exercises (For instance: Practice makes perfect. / Where there is a will, there is a way