Spoken English Coaching

Classes in Chandigarh

LANGUAGE

COURSES

LANGUAGE USAGE

MEANING

TEACHING METHOD OR IDEAS

FEATURE

PLANING

TEST

SUMMARY

What is a language?

Language is a tool we use to communicate with other people. We encode what we want to say using language which is made up of a range of components.

Language

We interact with different people for different reasons in

different situations in different situations.

There is a wide range of expressions that

perform certain ‘functions’, i.e. the things we do with

language, for example, there are general functions such as

thanking, asking for information, inviting, suggesting, greeting, agreeing, and so on.

Using language to interact

Language users need to make choices about the language they choose to communicate with. This choice is very limited in

the early stages of learning a language.

In some languages, the relationship between the

speaker and listener is reflected in the grammar.

We can divide language activities in the classroom into two categories—introducing language and using language that has already been encountered. As learners progress, they will constantly meet language for the first time, sometimes inside the classroom, sometimes outside.

Meaning

There are many ways of helping learners understand the meaning of a word or phrase. For example, with a word like ‘job’we can:

translate the word from English into the L1 give the learners examples of types of jobs,

for example, by providing pictures of people doing different jobs.

It is important for the language teacher to know as much as possible about the language that they are teaching. The language system is complex and learners need to be guidedthrough it. They will often come across language for the first time which they will need to incorporate into their own language system.

Summary

The Grammar-Translation

Method

Background: The method itself came from the way individual learners studied classical

languages such as Greek and Latin. This was done mainly by studying the grammar in detail and translating texts from the original into the

learners’ language.

Teaching Methods and Ideas

Sentences and longer texts are translated both to and from the learners’ first language. Little or no attention is paid to the ability to speak or communicate. Grammar rules are given a lot of attention, especially word endings and sentence formation.

Features

CLT started in the late 1960s and continues to evolve. It is not actually a method but an approach to teaching based on the view that learning a language means learning how to communicate effectively in the world outside the classroom.

Communicative Language

Teaching

TBL focuses on the ‘process’ of communicating by setting learners tasks to complete using the target language. During this period, the learners acquire language as they try to express themselves and understand others. The tasks can range from information gap to problem-solving tasks.

Task-based Learning

We listen for a purpose, but this purpose can be very different

depending on the situation:

-listening for

specific details

Listening for

general meaning

Listening for the general

idea or gist.

Chapter 4: Listening

Learners need to develop the following skills:

Learning to listen in various ways

Adapting the way they listen according to the test and the reason for listening

Recognizing the features of spoken English

Listening skills

The speaking process:

We speak in many different types of

situation. For example:

talking to someone face to face

talking to someone on the phone

a learner answering a question in class

Speaking

Spoken interaction involves two or more people talking to each other, for example, one person makes a request and the other person responds. We call this an exchange.

Interaction

There are two basic types of texts-authentic and non-authentic. Examples of authentic texts are newspaper articles, website pages, emails, packaging and labels, and so on. Non-authentic texts are written especially for learners using imaginary contexts and simplified vocabulary and sentence construction.

Reading

Learners need to develop the following skill:

Learning to read in various ways, for example, skimming and scanning

Adapting the way they read according to the text and their reason for reading

Reading skills

When we are writing we have to do something similar except that we do it with letters rather than sounds. We put these together to forms words, phrases, clauses, and sentences, and put sentences together to make a coherent text.

Writing

Spelling causes problems for lots of learners because there is no one-to-one relationship between sounds and spelling in English.

Spelling

Learners need to know the basic elements of punctuation:

Capital letters: for the beginning of a sentence, place names, and so on.

Full stops: for the end of a sentence Commas: to mark the ends of phrases and clauses Question marks: to signal a question Apostrophe: to show an abbreviation or

possessive.

Punctuation

Learners need to develop the skills of note taking and record keeping.

Note taking is an essential skill in the classroom particularly if learners are going to be studying

academically at some stage. During a lesson the teacher should always give learners time to make notes, make sure that

whatever they themselves write on the board is clear and relevant, and monitor learners’ note taking and give advice if necessary.

Study skills

Planning

Before we teach a lesson, we need to decide:

What the goals or aims of the lesson are

What resources to use: a course book or textbook, handouts or worksheets, posters, recorded material, etc.

The following guidelines should help to make progress and achievement tests a positive experience for your learners.

Test what you have taught.

Test what is useful.

Test all four skills.

Tell your learners ‘when’ and ’what’.

Preparing tests for your learners

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