1. Upgrading Listening and Speaking Skills
Bernadette Longley
Macmillan Education

2. Lead in Questions
What are some of the main problems students have in learning English?
In what situations / contexts will your students need to listen to and speak English?
What are the key skills / strategies that learners need to make them more effective at speaking English?
How can we best bridge the gap between in-class practice and authentic real life use of English?
How can we make in-class listening and speaking practice more enjoyable for our learners?

3. Listening
“A balanced general English course should include a variety of types of listening with accompanying activities: different interaction modes- monologues, dialogues; different contexts and situations – social events, meetings etc; different styles – formal or informal; different accents etc”
Teaching Practice Handbook

4. What are some of the difficulties learners face with listening activities?
catching the sounds
understanding every word
understanding fast, natural speech
needing to hear things more than once
catching the main ideas
understanding different accents/backgrounds
interpreting intonation
understanding speaker’s attitude, mood etc.
Brainstorm first

5. Listening Activity #1 1. Listen to the following text and write notes.
2. Answer these questions:
a. Where did she stay?
b. What does she say about the river?
c. Where did she ride her bicycle?
d. Which type of fruit did she used to pick?

6. Listening Activity #2 (L1,U15,P72)
1. Look at the 4 ads on page 72.
What are the ads for?
Which words are new to you?

7. Listening Activity #2 (L1,U15,P72)
2. Close your books. Listen to four speakers and fill in the table below.
Nationality?
Young/old?
Male/female? S4 S3 S2 S1
3. Listen and number the ads.

8. Listening Activity #2 (L1,U15,P72)
4. Listen again and check () the correct items.
5. Which ad appeals to you the most? Why?

9. Why was activity #2 a better listening activity?
1. No activity to familiarise students with speakers
1. Familiarisation with key words & speakers before starting activity
2. No warm up activity
2. Warm up activity- questions to set context
3. No explanation of the task before listening- only to ‘make notes’
3. Students knew expectations before listening
4. Only listened to text once
4. Students listened several times, each time with a different purpose
5. No opportunity to check answers
5. Students could check ideas with partner
6. Different styles (accent, age, etc)
7. Ended with a personalised question

10. What are the main stages in a listening skills lesson?
Set task to focus on more detailed understanding
Give feedback
Arouse interest and introduce topic
Set task to focus on overall understanding
Teach new key words/phrases
Encourage a personal response from your students

11. What are the main stages in a listening skills lesson?
1. Lead in-
Arouse interest and introduce topic
2. Pre-task-
Teach key words/phrases, predict content, etc
3. 1st listening-
Set task to focus on overall understanding
4. Give feedback
5. 2nd listening-
Set task to focus on more detailed understanding
6. Give feedback
7. Encourage a personal response from students

12. The task-feedback circle
Learning Teaching
p.174 (New Edition)

13. Look at the sample unit from Learning to Listen- Level 1, Unit 7
Can you identify these stages in the unit?
Arousing interest
Task focusing on overall understanding
Task focusing on detailed understanding
Encouraging a personal response

14. Arousing interest
Activity 1 (p. 34)

15. Task focusing on overall understanding
Activity 2 (p. 34)

16. Task focusing on detailed understanding
Activity 4 (p. 35)

17. Encouraging a personal response
Activity 8 (p.37)

18. Extra features
Are any other additional features included in the units?
What do you think the aim of these features is?

19. Train your ear
Activity 6 (p.36)

20. Test yourself
Activity 7 (p. 37)

21. Final points to help students to understand a listening text
arouse interest in topic P
pre-teach important words/phrases P
personalise where possible
let students share with their partner before whole class discussion L E
encourage students to use the listening strategies they employ in their own language S
set the task before the tape is listened to

22. Learning to Listen – The listening course with attitude!

23. Speaking
“Every opportunity for speaking in the classroom should be taken. It is by trying to communicate that students realize their need for language and by speaking that they increase their fluency and confidence.”
Teaching Practice Handbook

24. Dialogue A A: Hi! Where are you from? B: I’m from Sydney.
A: Why did you come to Beijing?
B: To study.
A: How long are you planning to study here?
B: Two years.
What is wrong with this dialogue?

25. Dialogue B A: Hi! Where are you from?
B: I’m from Sydney. I’ve just moved to Beijing to study. How about you?
A: I’m from Korea. I’ve been living here for 6 months. How long are you planning to study here?
B: Two years. But I might stay longer, if I can master Chinese! Are you a student, too?
What makes this conversation ‘successful’?
Answer
Add
Ask

26. What works in the classroom?
Think of a lesson that you taught recently that went well.
What was the lesson about?
How did you get the learners interested?
What were your learners talking about?
How was the speaking activity set up?
How did you make sure the learners felt confident to speak English?
Why do you think the lesson worked well?

27. What topics interest your learners?
With the people near you talk about what topics work well and get young adult students talking
In groups make a list of 5 good speaking topics

28. The Aims and Requirements of Speaking Activities
to get students to use the target language to interact in realistic and meaningful ways
Learning Teaching (Macmillan)
Accuracy
Extent to which a learner’s output matches an external standard
REQUIREMENTS:
Fluency
Production of language in real time without undue pausing or hesitation
Complexity
Restructuring language in to more complex forms
(Thornbury 2000)

29. Types of Speaking Activities
Accuracy-focused Fluency-focused
Controlled Activities
E.g. repetition/drills
Foster confidence
Focus on correct output
Guided Activities
E.g. model dialogues
Use pre-taught language
Freer Activities
E.g. group discussion
English in ‘real time’
Varied responses
through meaningful, realistic use of target language

30. Controlled Activities English Upgrade (B1, M5 p.34/78)

31. Guided Activities English Upgrade (B1, M11 p. 68)

32. Freer Activities English Upgrade (B1, M9 p.57)

33. Controlled, guided or freer activities?
Discussions
Guessing games
Debates
Group holiday plans
Drills
Questionnaires
‘Find someone who...’
Talk shows
Interviews
Picture difference tasks
Role-plays
Ranking/ordering
Information-gap activities
Opinion poles

34. Looking at an activity
1. In groups of 4, look at the activity from English Upgrade Book 1, Module 9 p. 58 and discuss the following questions:
Is it controlled, guided or freer practice?
What language are is this activity designed to practice?
What vocabulary would students need to carry out the task?

35. Looking at an activity
Pair up A (p.56)
Pair Up B (p. 81)

36. Checking predictions
2. Now two members of the group do the activity. The other two observe them.
Did they use the language you predicted they would use?
Did they use any other interesting language that you hadn’t predicted?
3. Decide as a group a lead-in activity students could do before using this activity.

37. Important components of speaking activities
Arouse students’ interest
Give clear instructions/aims
Teach conversational strategies
Give students time to prepare
Provide sufficient input
Monitor students
Allow for consolidation and feedback

38. English Upgrade Unit Structure 1. Lead In (Warm Up)
Module 10, p. 58
Introduces topic vocabulary
Activates background knowledge
Gets students talking

39. 2. Conversational Input Listen in
Module 10, p. 59
Presents conversation through focused listening
Encourages students to concentrate on meaning
Targets main idea, then details —in easy stages

40. 3. Functional Awareness Say It Naturally
Module 10, p. 59
Highlights useful conversational strategies based on Listen in text
Introduces natural expressions
Gives students a chance to try them out

41. 4. Conversational Skill Building Build up & Express Yourself
Module 10, p. 60
Presents target language clearly
Offers controlled practice to build up confidence
Guides through stages of conversation
Express Yourself supports freer conversation using Build up

42. 5. Topic Expansion Expand the Topic
Module 10, p. 61
Creates information-gap for realistic practice
Helps students use target language in new context
Balances need for repetition with engaging task
Challenges students to extend the activity

43. 6. Extra Listening Listen Up
Module 10, p. 61
Longer listening activity
Practice in listening for main ideas and for details
Features a wider range of accents than Listen in section

44. 7. Communication Task Pair Up
Module 10, p. 62
Paired ‘information gap’ activity
Offers controlled practice to build up confidence
Guides through stages of conversation
Supports freer student- generated conversation

45. 8. Consolidation and Review Check it out
Module 10, p. 63
Ends a unit in fun, relaxed way
Includes games, quizzes, surveys
Consolidates language encountered in unit
A chance to speak about their opinions and experiences in a less controlled way

46. Conversation Strategies
In pairs, make a list of 5 important conversation strategies to teach students
Compare with another pair and add any others to your list

47. Say it naturally (level 1)
Asking about names
Showing you’re listening
Returning a question
Showing surprise
Showing agreement
Asking for someone’s news
Responding to thanks
Expressing uncertainty
Asking for permission
Saying goodbye

48. Say it naturally (level 2)
Starting a conversation
Ending a conversation
Showing interest
Asking for an opinion
Asking to speak with someone on the phone
Telling a salesperson what you want
Thinking out loud
Asking about a friend’s problems
Checking your own understanding
Expressing enthusiasm for a plan

49. Say it naturally (level 3)
Greeting a friend after an absence
Requesting help
Asking for opinions
Showing agreement
Adding general examples
Expressing indecision
Checking information
Relaying a phone message
Asking for clarification
Emphasizing a point

50. Encouraging students to use conversational strategies
Discuss the following question with the person next to you.
How can you encourage students to actually use the conversational strategies that are introduced?

51. Encouraging students to use conversational strategies
Provide model dialogues that use and recycle the target conversational strategies
Give explicit feedback on strategy use
Get students to self-evaluate their use of strategies
Encourage students to cumulatively use the strategies that are taught and not only the one focused on in today’s lesson

52. Thank you for listening For more support visit…

53. Listening to authentic web texts
ELT Journal, Jan 2004

54. What topics interest your learners?
With the people near you talk about what topics work well and get young adult students talking
In groups make a list of 5 good speaking topics