This document discusses strategies for developing students' speaking skills in a foreign language. It proposes using a "Group Talk" model where students sit in small groups and have spontaneous conversations prompted by a stimulus. At Wildern School, implementing Group Talk has improved students' speaking exam results and helped boys perform equally as well as girls. Group Talk involves students agreeing or disagreeing through opinion, conjecture and debate using language of the target language. Other techniques discussed include using props, rewards, and open-ended questioning to promote creative speaking in a low-pressure environment.

1. Chris Fuller Talking about spontaneity www.chrisfuller.typepad.com @chrisfullerisms Chrisfullerinspain@hotmail.com

2. OfSTED “Across all phases speaking is the least well developed of all the skills. Students’ inability to be able to say what they want to say in a new language has a negative impact on their confidence and enthusiasm.” OFSTED, “The Changing Landscape of Languages”, July 2008

3. Who am I? Spanish teacher Former SSAT Lead Practitioner Educational consultant for creativity Looking forward to getting back into the classroom A learner

4. Thinking about our “speakers”

5. Creating a spontaneous environment

7. performing opportunities?

10. hesitation words

11. opinions

15. pupil elected teacher of the lesson

19. can be colloquial

20. developing during the years

21. needs planning into SoW

23. What is “Group Talk”? At Wildern School, the sustained use of Group Talk has brought about improved learning outcomes and examination results. Pupil results have clearly risen in the GCSE speaking component. Most significantly, Group Talk has raised the achievement of ‘middle boys’ whose ability to improvise oral responses compensates for a lack of revision. Wildern School’s GCSE results in MFL show boys performing equally as well as girls. Greg Horton, Wildern School

24. What is “Group Talk”? The Group Talk project was born out of dissatisfaction with traditional formulaic speaking activities, and the need to engage learners through a more dynamic and spontaneous use of language. In a Group Talk environment, pupils sit around tables and interact within small groups. Conversations are prompted by a given stimulus and then sustained through opinion, conjecture and debate. Pupils learn how to agree or, better still, disagree with the views of their peers. ‘Ni hablar!’ ‘Du spinnst!’ ‘Turigoles!’ is the language of Group Talk at its animated best.

25. (Deutsch) ist cool. Ich mag (Deutsch). Was denkst du? Ja, das stimmt. Nein, das stimmt nicht. X  X X Du spinnst! Ich denke … ©Wildern School

27.  ¡Yo también!¡Yo tampoco! ¿Qué piensas? ¡(No) me gusta! X ¿Por qué? ¿Por qué?  ¡Sí, es verdad!¡No, no es verdad! X Porque... Porque... Prefiero.. porque Pienso que... porque ..es mejor que....es peor que....es más..que....es menos..que.  Sí, tienes razón No, no tienes razón ¡Ni hablar! ¡Qué va! (no) estoy de acuerdo ¿Qué piensas? X Gracias @ Greg Horton

28. “Group Talk” in action ©Wildern School

29. No wrong answers

30. Mysteries

31. ©Rachel Hawkes ¿Qué no se puedever? ¿Quéva a pasarahora? ¿Dóndeestamos? ¿Quéacaba de pasar? ¿Qué o quién hay en la foto? ¿Cuándo se hizo la foto? Reading Images ¿Qué se puedever?

32. Odd One Out

34. ©Rachel Hawkes

35. What’s the question? 1999 David Netball

36. Twist the question round What did you not do last weekend?

37. Word precision What is your ideal classroom like? ANSWER IN ONLY 7 WORDS!

38. Pupil bingo years 10 / 11? Important not to let the fun disappear!

39. Chris Fuller Do they want to speak? Yes www.chrisfuller.typepad.com @chrisfullerisms Chrisfullerinspain@hotmail.com