2645. How to communicate effectively in a foreign language

Communication strategies. When trying to speak in the target language, English in our case, we can use communication strategies, like: 

saying the meaning of a word we don’t know or remember; 

gestures; 

asking the interlocutor for help; 

using the mother language, Spanish in our case; 

giving synonyms; 

giving paraphrases; 

giving examples so as to approach a word we don’t know; 

using circumlocutions; 

drawing; etc. 

This is partially taken from Canale. We can teach our students about this point, and practice with them, for example for giving the definition of some word. 

Even we can try to elicit more strategies from their own. / Photo from: Rugby-Championships-Big-Hit www rugbydecalle com. the photo is merely an illustration to the post