How to Improve Your Speaking

Speaking in front of others can be a stressful experience. Moreover, stress might block learning, and so we are left with a vicious cycle: We need to speak to learn a language, but speaking the language can be stressful and scary. We also know that making mistakes is an important part of learning a new language, and through our mistakes we often learn how to become better language users. So, what can we do to make speaking a foreign language less stressful?

vicious cycle ond sirkel / vond sirkel script manus follow-up oppfølging interaction samspill/samspel demanding krevende/krevjande

Make a plan for how to improve your speaking skills. Try to spend some time every day on it.

REMEMBER

ACTION

5 In pairs, discuss the following questions and give reasons for your answers. a How do you feel about speaking English in class? b When are you most comfortable speaking English? What do you do? c How can you make others more comfortable when they are speaking English? 6 In groups, create at least three class rules for how to behave and support each other as you develop your English skills. Two Kinds of Speaking Production is, for instance, giving a speech or an oral presentation. You can write a script and practice in order to prepare for production. Make sure you always understand the text you are presenting and prepare for follow-up questions. Interaction is listening and responding to someone else. Interaction is more demanding than production, as you need both listening and speaking skills. It is difficult to practice for interaction, but you can learn phrases and responses, for instance, “How are you” and “I am good, thank you. How are you?”. Production Interaction

Does not involve listening Involves listening, reacting to others Giving a speech, oral presentation Having a conversation

ACTION In groups of four, try these oral tasks to get you speaking: 7 Go online and find tongue twisters. Time each other to see how long it takes you to get through one of them. 8 Take turns instructing each other on how to perform the following tasks: Get from your classroom to the nearest bus stop, get from your classroom to the nearest shop, find a shopping mall, register for a social media account, place your chair on top of the table Making mistakes is important for learning. Stress blocks learning. Create a stress-free environment.Vurderingseksemplar Make other instructions when finished. 9 Write down famous people on postit notes. Make eight or 12 for each group. Switch post-it notes with a different group. Without looking at the new post-its, stick one to your forehead. The others in your group can see who you are, but you cannot. Using only yes and no questions, take turns guessing who you are.