The document discusses the challenges learners face in speaking English despite extensive study, emphasizing the gap between writing and speaking skills. It introduces a six-point model for teaching speaking, the significance of vowel sounds and color associations in pronunciation, and the importance of leveraging students' existing knowledge. The document concludes with a call to simplify English learning and promote teacher training workshops.

1. Judy Thompson
TESL Ontario 2015

2. Agenda
 Why learners don’t speak English no matter how long
they study? 2 minutes
 Spoken English is different from Written English
Venn Language Diagrams 15 minutes
 The missing bridge between writing and speaking.
Thompson Vowel Chart 15 minutes
 The Six-Point Model for Speaking English 10 minutes
 Grammar Goodies - Rita Baker 3 minutes
 Conclusion 2 minutes

3. Why Don’t Learners Speak English Now?
 We have no idea how to teach Speaking
http://bit.ly/Xtgyw9
 Manuel Story – Heartbreaker Alert - my CLB 3 super
student from Paraguay was a doctor in his country, 50
yrs old, wanted to practice medicine in Canada
He completed CLB 8 passing all his tests with flying
colors but didn’t speak English any differently than the
day he arrived in this country
Manuel would never be a doctor in Canada because I
didn’t teach him to speak English
 It changed my life – I vowed never to let students down
this way again

4. William Caxton Split English in Two

5. Writing vs. Speaking
We Only Teach Writing Because it is All We Learned to Do

6. In case I forget to mention:
 Only say things that are true – all the time – no
exceptions
 Use the information students already know – ABC,
colors, numbers – true is true at every level
 It’s empowering to start every lesson with, “You know
this already” – I’ll show you how to do that
 Vowel sounds are the main problem but there is an
easy fix. Each vowel sound is found in the name of a
different color

8. Every Word in English is a Color
This is the Bridge to Pronunciation
Regardless of spelling:
Gray words: day, rain, great, eight, ate..
Black words: cat, half, laugh, plaid...
Pink words: sister, pretty, women, busy...
JUdy is Blue
 What color is your name?
 Do this with an elastic band to help your students find
the stressed syllable/name color
 Blank Color Vowel Chart class exercise

11. The Vast Majority of Learners are
Beginner/Intermediate
The Vowel Chart is their Golden Key to Speaking
Success

12. Recap
 Writing and Speaking are different and we know most
about writing
 Colors are a perfect bridge from Writing to Speaking
(and back but we aren’t doing that)
 Every word in English is a color
 The color holds the pronunciation and the all-
important WORD STRESS
 The pattern is the same for Sentence Stress
 The Linking consonants ‘y’ & ‘w’ are also in the chart

13. More Fun Venns
Vocabulary Doesn’t Belong in the Intersection
Writing and Speaking Vocabulary are too Different

14. Students are Not Mute
 Any two languages are more the same than different
 Learners already make most of the sounds they need
to speak English effectively
 Start with what learners already know
 What is the difference between accent and
intelligibility?
You have to ask me back for that.

15. English and Spanish

16. English and French

17. English and Arabic

18. Rita Baker – The Global Approach
All Possible Grammar Structures on One Page

19. Summary
 It’s possible we make learning English more difficult
than it has to be
 English is simple – not easy, but simple
 It take 30 hours to teach the PATTERNS of English that
are always true
 If you don’t know them – find them on the internet
Do you see the arrow in the FedEx logo? You can’t un-know
things you see now that you never noticed before.

20. Please Sign Up
 Register for the 2016 Teacher Training workshop
Coaching vs. Teaching coming to a city near you
 www.thompsonlanguagecenter.com
 judy@thompsonlanguagecenter.com
 Free Videos on Thompson Language Center YouTube
channel
 EFLMagazine.com
 www.RadicalEnglish.weebly.com