3606. Lesson Planning and Having Our Students Speak for Longer in the Classroom

 Lesson planning takes quite a lot of a teacher’s time. If you teach a language, you may have had the following experience. 

A foreign or second language teacher, I think, should foster speaking in the class. A lot of speaking. In that language. 

Thus that teacher should plan activities which will make his or her students speak. And not only will that teacher make his or her students participate by uttering and conveying sentences, yet he or she ought to take their students give longer messages, for it is not the same to say a sentence than talking for five or ten minutes. There is a big difference indeed, and our dear students should speak for pretty long periods. 

With creativity, imagination, practice and even a bit of fantasy the language teacher should plan his or her classes, so as to give their learners chances to speak. 

Well also the other three skills: listening, reading and writing. 

Yesterday during the lesson I was teaching I came to think that, ok, I am speaking to my students, but I have to make them speak more. For they seemed to have some difficulties to speak fluently. In December they will give oral presentations for 5, 10 or 15 minutes – they are adults anyway and thus they have some or a lot of practice to prepare an oral presentation about a topic their choice. 

And where could I take inspiration for that creativity, and a bit of fantasy, and imagination, and so on? From textbooks: today most of them bring out lots of activities to foster authentic and genuine communication in the classroom. As well you can consult the book I’m reading, by Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching – I’m reading its third edition. 

With younger students or students without much experience you teacher may lead and take your students to prepare the oral presentation. How? I think I will dedicate next post to preparing and oral presentation, from the ideas I learned from expert Mary Jane Amaya. Have a nice day. Just one more word: when lesson planning you might try and get the most from an activity so as to exploit that activity in an imaginative way. I also could explain about that in coming posts.

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