The document provides guidance and activities for improving English speaking skills. It discusses the importance of speaking proficiency, strategies for practice, and characteristics of conversational speaking. Activities include observing turn-taking behaviors, developing conversational strategies, and trying different practice methods like joining conversations, recording oneself, and exchanging voice messages with native speakers. The overall goal is to help learners improve accuracy, fluency, and comfort with spoken English.

1. LEARNING TO LEARN
TRAINING PROGRAM
Level 5
Speaking

2. OBJECTIVES
To help you realize the place of
Speaking in the process of learning a
language and the skills involved in it.
To make you aware of the different
strategies that may be used to practice
Speaking.

3. Group activity
Look at the following slide together as
a group.
Answer the questions on it.
Put together a graphic representation
of your answers as a group.
Bar graph, pie graph, porcentages,
etc.

4. How often do you use your spoken
English in real-life situations, like:
 Talking to native speakers in English-speaking
countries?
 Talking to speakers of other languages when
English is the only language in common?
 Making phone calls to English speaking
countries?
 Participating in on-line forums or chat-rooms?
 Making a speech or oral presentation in English
(outside of your English class)?

5. suggestion
25
20
15
alumnos
10
5
0

6. Think about this and comment:
Speaking is sometimes the ONLY
evidence to others that YOU know and
can use a language.
When a person is competent in a
language we say “he/she speaks
English”.
Speaking is the communication
channel we use to socialize.

7. What are you better at? What do you
need to improve?
Accuracy?
or
Fluency?

8. An accurate speaker can…
…use the right words. (vocabulary)
…use the right tenses, prepositions,
etc. (grammar)
… use formal/ informal English. (style)
…pronounce the sounds of English
correctly. (pronunciation)
…sound polite, friendly, aggressive,
(intentionally).

9. A fluent speaker can...
...communicate a message
without misunderstandings.
...respond spontaneously without
hesitation or long pauses.
...smoothly start, end and even
interrupt a conversation.

10. Attitudes
 Which belief do you identify with?
 How can beliefs and attitudes have a positive or negative
effect on how you speak English? How would you benefit
from a change of attitudes/beliefs?
“I want my English to be perfect. I hate I no care if I make a
making mistakes! In class, I want my lots of mistakes
teacher to correct me every time I make when I speak –I
a mistake”.
know the people
they understand me!
I think British English
is the best –I only I hate my accent! I think that
want to learn that! if you try to learn English, you
should try to sound like an
American or an English
person.!
From: Ellis & Sinclair

11. Discuss the characteristics of the spoken
language, what do you think?
 When we speak, we have to “think on our
feet”. We don’t have much time to
prepare.
 We can use our tone of voice, and
intonation to express a message.
 We can also see body language and facial
expression when speaking face to face.
 We can ask for clarification when we don’t
understand something.

12. Discuss conversational speaking, what do
you think?
A conversation is a highly organized
activity which requires definite skills
on the part of the speakers.
Learners may know the grammar and
vocabulary, and still feel
uncomfortable in real conversation.
From:Zoltan Dornyei &Sarah Thurrell
“Conversations & Dialogues in Action”

13. Discuss conversational rules
and rituals, what do you think?
In conversation, there are conventions and rules
that we should have in mind.
Who speaks and for how long? (turn-taking)
How to start/close a conversation.
How to change the topic.
When to interrupt and when to hold.
*convention: behavior that is considered to be correct or polite by most people in a society
From: Conversation and Dialogues in Action Zoltan Dornyei & Sarah Thurrell

14. Activity: Turn-taking observation.
 How do speakers indicate their turn in a
conversation?
- How does a speaker give up his/her turn? By saying
something like: “Well, anyway...”, “So...” or by lowering
the pitch or the volume of his/her voice? By looking at
someone?
- How does a speaker indicate he/she is about to take up
his/her turn? By using interjections: “Mm-hm”,
Yeah...and, “Yes, but...” or by taking a deep breath, by
interrupting the previous speaker?
 Try the following next time you watch your
favorite TV series/sit-com in the lab.

15. Activity: Turn-taking observation
1. Choose one of the conversations between the
characters.
2. Observe how the speakers signal their turns in the
conversation. Pay attention to any simultaneous talk or
overlaps between the turns as well.
3. Use the following *table to register how the speakers
indicate their turns in the conversation
( You could also observe a conversation group at the lab or listen to
a textbook dialogue)
*For a photocopy of the table go to the binder labeled LLTP Session 5
on the shelf by the front desk. (Task-sheet 1 Turn-taking observation).

16. Activity: Turn-taking observation task-
sheet part 1
Adapted from: Zoltan &Thurrell

17. Activity: Turn-taking observation task-sheet part 2

18. Activity: Developing Conversational Skills
 For more observation tasks and other activities
to practice speaking, go to the binder labeled:
“LLTP Session 5”. There you will find:
a) More observation activities.
b) Conversational strategies and language used
for:
- interrupting politely.
- asking for information and answering that you don’t know
- beginning and closing a conversation
- paraphrasing and approximation (what to say when you don’t know a word)

19. Activity: Strategies.
Try any of the following strategies. Which do you find most/least useful as
ways to practice speaking? Take notes on how the ideas worked for you.
 Joining a conversation  Talking in front of the
group in school. mirror.
 Recording yourself  Exchanging voice-
speaking and later messages with an
evaluating your skills.
English speaking
 Listening to taped
conversations and  mouse-pal.
imitating what you hear.  Making friends with a
 Watching movies or videos native speaker.
and imitating  Using your English when
conversational phrases. visiting an English-
speaking country.