3628. On Promoting Oral Communication in the Language Class

 Teaching a second or a foreign language may be fantastic. And somehow hard. 

That teacher has to be alert: he should teach language facts… but mainly he ought to foster communication in English or whatsoever the target language is. 

Thus he may ask his students questions as prompts for further communication in the classroom. 

Asking questions also by other students may be great – I have seen it in class this week. A female student asked another female student how this latter one managed at home if she only cooked simple meals. They have an intermediate level and we utilize a coursebook which is A2/B1 level – some lower intermediate grade. The question was absolutely spontaneous. 

That questioning each other also can further the communication in the classroom. 

Another point, look. It is not the same our students would convey just sentences or otherwise they would convey oral presentations of a few minutes or even longer, of course. 

They can choose a topic, prepare it as homework and then in class utter that oral presentation. On other posts I have already written about this - for example you can click on PRESENTATIONS label or tag in this blog.

I have used this technique as something voluntary and it has worked fine. The students used to let me know beforehand what they were going to talk about on an appointed date. Great. 

Above I said asking questions can further and enhance language and communication in class. 

However, the teacher should be prudent not to ask questions that could be embarrassing for such or such students. Anyway there are umpteen topics or kinds of questions our students may be asked without flushing or the like. Have a nice day.

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