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- 1. 2 Unit: Interest opinion Topic:Famous People 1. 53010513004 2. 53010513043 3. 53010513048 2 20 2556
- 2. 2 Unit: Interest opinion Topic: Famous People ......... ............................ . . ................. 1. 1. ( while speaking//Act 1// famous person ) 2. ( while speaking// Act 2// Talk about the famous people ) 3.l 1r post speaking//Act 3//Do you know them? ) 4.l (post listening//Act 4//who are you?
- 3. 2. .1.1.1.1 . 2 .1.1.1.4. 2 supporting detail .1.1.2.4 .2 .1.1.2.5 2 1.1.3.1 . 2 2.2.1.1 2 3. Vocabulary : acting , excellent , kidding , famous , imaginary , admire , military , leader, popularity, award, personality, profiles
- 4. Structure : Past Simple S V2 Example: - I was at the movies. Subject = I Past Verb = was - He was born in India in 1869. Subject = He Past Verb = born 4. 1. Power point 2. The famous people Famous People 3. 4. 5. Text 6. A4 7. Famous People
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- 6. Pre-Speaking 30 I havesome 1. question to ask you before we 2. VDO the famous people about the -Who is your favorite famous VDO 3. text 1 Famous people I see…………… strat to learn famous people. - 1. ………………. 2. 3. The VDO text 1 shows about………… . people? - Do you admire Power point him her? - I have - It is a question to ask famous. etc. you about VDO - That is - What is the 4. picture. VDO about? 4. -I will give you the text. It is Vocabulary game about structure. I will teach you all vocabulary. - There are - What is the vocabulary of After that I will this picture? check your - Which one is the acting? understand by this audio asking the sound. 5. text 2 Power point 5. text 2 two people in question. - What is the vocabulary of this picture? 6. - Which one is the acting? Next I will teach - There are two people in Structure game this audio sound. - Mahatma
- 7. you about 6. Gandhi structure and askyou some question for check your - power point understand. - How many past simple people are there in this audio sound? Subject Verb 7. Famous Next I will turn She want to on the audio University yesterday s v Past time sound “ famous people ” twice. Then I have some question 7. to ask you. Famous People 2 - How many people this story? - What is the movie that she saw? 8. * strategies speaking People 8.
- 8. 1. 1. Act. 2 ,3 6 2. 2. - My famous Act. 4 While-Speaking 20 person is Pablo Picasso. - Make a group He was a of six people. famous artist. Activity1: 10 He was born in 1. 6 - You have to Spain. He lived brainstorming and worked in about the “Famous person” France. I famous people and tell “who is 2. 3. admire him 4. because he the person”. created many great painting - You can write - as much as you can think. and sculptures. 5. - When you - 3. finish you have to present it. I will check your answer. 1. 2 4. 2. Task
- 9. 5. - I willgive you task 2 6. Activity 2: 10 Talk about your - From in to groups of famous people. famous person Then choose 1. one person 2 Task 2 who is you like 3. the most. - and talk about your famous person. - Who is the 4. person? - - Why is the person famous? - What else do you know about the person? - Do you - admire him or her? - Why or why 1 not? 1.
- 10. - After thatyou have to present fort of the class with your - He is Simon 4 2. partner. 3. Bolivar. We call him EL Libertador. He was a great present leader. He fought for freedom in 3. 4. South America. - Make a group 5. of 4 people. - You have to learn about the famous person that I choose Post-Speaking 30 Activity3: for you already. This picture is……………… 15 …………… Do you know them? 1. 4 - After that I have activity for 2. you that is “ Do you know them 3. VDO The ” 4. famous people Do you -I will open the
- 11. know them? * famous faceon the power point. I will ask you - “Who is them?” What is she he doing? power point - Where is 1. 2. him her? - I want to be Princess Diana. - I want to be Which group Mozart. can answer the A : Hi , what question first your name? will get the point. 3. B : My name is Princess Diana. I will give you just 1 minute ……………… can’t answer - B: picture. If you 1 name? for each - A : What your ……… you will lose A: point. 4. 5. 4. Work in pair. - Learn about your famous person that you 5. got from me. - I will give you two person. one famous 6. ……………… ………
- 12. Activity 4: 15 Whoare you? person for one people 1. - Think that you 2. are the person and make conversation 2 for introduce yourself with your pair. - Practice 3. conversation with your partner and present fort of the class. - * 4. 5.
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- 14. Activity1: Famous - person Activity 2:Talk about your famous person Activity 3: Do you know them Activity 4: Who are you 7. .................................................................................................. .......................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................... ............................. 8. ……………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… 9. 9.1
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- 18. References: Vocabulary - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ * Picturehttps://www.google.co.th/imghp?hl=th&tab=wi&authu ser=0&q=article Structure http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepast.ht ml Coursebook Susan Stempleski, 2007 .New York : Oxford university press
- 19. Speaking strategies - Strategiesfor Developing Speaking Skills http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/speaking/stratspeak.htm -Teaching Speaking Developing Speaking Activities http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/speaking/developspeak.htm - Using Creative Strategies to Promote Students’ Speaking Skills http://marifa.hct.ac.ae/files/2011/07/Using-CreativeStrategies-to-Promote-Students-Speaking-Skills.pdf Text 1 Vocabulary Acting n. The art or occupation of performing fictional roles in plays, films, or television.
- 20. Excellence n. The qualityof being outstanding or extremely good. Kidding Deceive (someone) in a playful way. Famous n. Known about by many people. Imaginary adj. existing only in the imagination
- 21. Admire v. Look at(something impressive or attractive) with pleasure. Military adj. Relating to or characteristic of soldiers or armed forces. Leader n. The person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country the leader of a protest group. - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ * Picturehttps://www.google.co.th/imghp?hl=th&tab=wi&authu ser=0&q=article Text 3
- 22. Structure Use the SimplePast to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind. Examples: I saw a movie yesterday. I didn't see a play yesterday. Last year, I traveled to Japan. Last year, I didn't travel to Korea. Did you have dinner last night? She washed her car. He didn't wash his car. Use of Simple Past action in the past taking place once, never or several times Example: He visited his parents every weekend. actions in the past taking place one after the other Example: He came in, took off his coat and sat down. action in the past taking place in the middle of another action Example: When I was having breakfast, the phone suddenly rang.
- 23. if sentences typeII (If I talked, …) Example: If I had a lot of money, I would share it with you. Forms With most verbs the past tense is formed by adding -ed: call >> called; like >> liked; want >> wanted; work >> worked But there are a lot of irregular past tenses in English. Her are the most common irregular verbs in English, with their past tenses: infinitive irregular past be was/were begin began break broke bring brought buy bought build built choose chose come came cost cost cut cut do did draw drew drive drove
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- 25. B : Hi.It’ s Ben. I called you last night, but you weren’t home. A : I was at the movies. B : Oh, really? What did you see? A : Gandhi. It’ s an old movie about Mahatma Gandhi. B : Was is good? A ; Yeah, the story and the acting were excellent. B : And what did you learn about Gandhi. A : Well, he was born in India in 1869. And his real name wasn’t Mahatma Gandhi. It was Mohandas Gandhi. B : No kidding. Tell me more.
- 26. Task 1 Act.1 Direction : --Make a group of six people. Brainstorming about the famous people and tell “who is the person”.
- 27. Example Task 2 Act.2 Direction : - talk about your famous person. -What is their group? - Who is the person? - After that you have to present fort of the class with your partner. Actors Actress Singer
- 28. Example Actors Actress Singer Robert De Niro JuliaRoberts Elton John Nicolas Cage Angelina Jolie Elvis Presley Al Pacino Nicole Kidman Michael Jackson Brad Pitt Anne Hathaway Pink Floyd Who is the famous person that t you like? He is ……………We call him EL Libertador. He was a great leader. He fought for freedom in South America. And he……………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ……
- 29. Task 3 Act.3 Direction : - Make a group of 4 people. - After that I have activity for you that is “ Do you know them ” - I will open the famous face on the power point. - I will ask you “Who is them?” What is she/he doing? - Where is him/her? Which group can answer the question first will get the point. - I will give you just 1 minute for each picture. If you can’t answer you will lose point.
- 30. Task 4 Act.4 Direction : - Work in pair. - Choose your famous person.( one famous person for one people ) - Think that you are the person and make conversation for showing your role play to introduce yourself with your pair. - Practice conversation with your partner and present fort of the class.
- 31. Example A : Iwant to be Princess Diana. B : I want to be Mozart. A : Hi , what your name? B : My name is Princess Diana. A : What your name? B : ……………………………. A : …………………………….
- 32. Teaching Speaking Strategies forDeveloping Speaking Skills Students often think that the ability to speak a language is the product of language learning, but speaking is also a crucial part of the language learning process. Effective instructors teach students speaking strategies -- using minimal responses, recognizing scripts, and using language to talk about language -- that they can use to help themselves expand their knowledge of the language and their confidence in using it. These instructors help students learn to speak so that the students can use speaking to learn. 1. Using minimal responses Language learners who lack confidence in their ability to participate successfully in oral interaction often listen in silence while others do the talking. One way to encourage such learners to begin to participate is to help them build up a stock of minimal responses that they can use in different types of exchanges. Such responses can be especially useful for beginners. Minimal responses are predictable, often idiomatic phrases that conversation participants use to indicate understanding, agreement, doubt, and other responses to what another speaker is saying. Having a stock of such responses enables a learner to
- 33. focus on whatthe other participant is saying, without having to simultaneously plan a response. 2. Recognizing scripts Some communication situations are associated with a predictable set of spoken exchanges -- a script. Greetings, apologies, compliments, invitations, and other functions that are influenced by social and cultural norms often follow patterns or scripts. So do the transactional exchanges involved in activities such as obtaining information and making a purchase. In these scripts, the relationship between a speaker's turn and the one that follows it can often be anticipated. Instructors can help students develop speaking ability by making them aware of the scripts for different situations so that they can predict what they will hear and what they will need to say in response. Through interactive activities, instructors can give students practice in managing and varying the language that different scripts contain. 3. Using language to talk about language Language learners are often too embarrassed or shy to say anything when they do not understand another speaker or when they realize that a conversation partner has not understood them. Instructors can help students overcome this reticence by assuring them that misunderstanding and the need for clarification can
- 34. occur in anytype of interaction, whatever the participants' language skill levels. Instructors can also give students strategies and phrases to use for clarification and comprehension check. By encouraging students to use clarification phrases in class when misunderstanding occurs, and by responding positively when they do, instructors can create an authentic practice environment within the classroom itself. As they develop control of various clarification strategies, students will gain confidence in their ability to manage the various communication situations that they may encounter outside the classroom. Teaching Speaking Deloping Speaking Activities Traditional classroom speaking practice often takes the form of drills in which one person asks a question and another gives an answer. The question and the answer are structured and predictable, and often there is only one correct, predetermined answer. The purpose of asking and answering the question is to demonstrate the ability to ask and answer the question. In contrast, the purpose of real communication is to accomplish a task, such as conveying a telephone message, obtaining information, or expressing an opinion. In real communication, participants must manage uncertainty about what the other person will say. Authentic communication involves an information gap; each participant has information that the other does not have. In
- 35. addition, to achievetheir purpose, participants may have to clarify their meaning or ask for confirmation of their own understanding. To create classroom speaking activities that will develop communicative competence, instructors need to incorporate a purpose and an information gap and allow for multiple forms of expression. However, quantity alone will not necessarily produce competent speakers. Instructors need to combine structured output activities, which allow for error correction and increased accuracy, with communicative output activities that give students opportunities to practice language use more freely. Structured Output Activities Two common kinds of structured output activities are information gap and jigsaw activities. In both these types of activities, students complete a task by obtaining missing information, a feature the activities have in common with real communication. However, information gap and jigsaw activities also set up practice on specific items of language. In this respect they are more like drills than like communication. Information Gap Activities Filling the gaps in a schedule or timetable: Partner A holds an airline timetable with some of the arrival and departure times missing. Partner B has the same timetable but with different blank
- 36. spaces. The twopartners are not permitted to see each other's timetables and must fill in the blanks by asking each other appropriate questions. The features of language that are practiced would include questions beginning with "when" or "at what time." Answers would be limited mostly to time expressions like "at 8:15" or "at ten in the evening." Completing the picture: The two partners have similar pictures, each with different missing details, and they cooperate to find all the missing details. In another variation, no items are missing, but similar items differ in appearance. For example, in one picture, a man walking along the street may be wearing an overcoat, while in the other the man is wearing a jacket. The features of grammar and vocabulary that are practiced are determined by the content of the pictures and the items that are missing or different. Differences in the activities depicted lead to practice of different verbs. Differences in number, size, and shape lead to adjective practice. Differing locations would probably be described with prepositional phrases. These activities may be set up so that the partners must practice more than just grammatical and lexical features. For example, the timetable activity gains a social dimension when one partner assumes the role of a student trying to make an appointment with a partner who takes the role of a professor. Each partner has pages from an appointment book in which certain dates and times are already filled in and other times are still available for an appointment. Of course, the open times don't match exactly, so
- 37. there must besome polite negotiation to arrive at a mutually convenient time for a meeting or a conference. Jigsaw Activities Jigsaw activities are more elaborate information gap activities that can be done with several partners. In a jigsaw activity, each partner has one or a few pieces of the "puzzle," and the partners must cooperate to fit all the pieces into a whole picture. The puzzle piece may take one of several forms. It may be one panel from a comic strip or one photo from a set that tells a story. It may be one sentence from a written narrative. It may be a tape recording of a conversation, in which case no two partners hear exactly the same conversation. In one fairly simple jigsaw activity, students work in groups of four. Each student in the group receives one panel from a comic strip. Partners may not show each other their panels. Together the four panels present this narrative: a man takes a container of ice cream from the freezer; he serves himself several scoops of ice cream; he sits in front of the TV eating his ice cream; he returns with the empty bowl to the kitchen and finds that he left the container of ice cream, now melting, on the kitchen counter. These pictures have a clear narrative line and the partners are not likely to disagree about the appropriate sequencing. You can make the task more demanding, however, by using pictures that lend themselves to
- 38. alternative sequences, sothat the partners have to negotiate among themselves to agree on a satisfactory sequence. More elaborate jigsaws may proceed in two stages. Students first work in input groups (groups A, B, C, and D) to receive information. Each group receives a different part of the total information for the task. Students then reorganize into groups of four with one student each from A, B, C, and D, and use the information they received to complete the task. Such an organization could be used, for example, when the input is given in the form of a tape recording. Groups A, B, C, and D each hear a different recording of a short news bulletin. The four recordings all contain the same general information, but each has one or more details that the others do not. In the second stage, students reconstruct the complete story by comparing the four versions. With information gap and jigsaw activities, instructors need to be conscious of the language demands they place on their students. If an activity calls for language your students have not already practiced, you can brainstorm with them when setting up the activity to preview the language they will need, eliciting what they already know and supplementing what they are able to produce themselves. Structured output activities can form an effective bridge between instructor modeling and communicative output because they are partly authentic and partly artificial. Like authentic communication,
- 39. they feature informationgaps that must be bridged for successful completion of the task. However, where authentic communication allows speakers to use all of the language they know, structured output activities lead students to practice specific features of language and to practice only in brief sentences, not in extended discourse. Also, structured output situations are contrived and more like games than real communication, and the participants' social roles are irrelevant to the performance of the activity. This structure controls the number of variables that students must deal with when they are first exposed to new material. As they become comfortable, they can move on to true communicative output activities. Communicative Output Activities Communicative output activities allow students to practice using all of the language they know in situations that resemble real settings. In these activities, students must work together to develop a plan, resolve a problem, or complete a task. The most common types of communicative output activity are role plays and discussions . In role plays, students are assigned roles and put into situations that they may eventually encounter outside the classroom. Because role plays imitate life, the range of language functions that may be used expands considerably. Also, the role relationships among the students as they play their parts call for them to practice and develop their sociolinguistic competence.
- 40. They have touse language that is appropriate to the situation and to the characters. Students usually find role playing enjoyable, but students who lack self-confidence or have lower proficiency levels may find them intimidating at first. To succeed with role plays: Prepare carefully: Introduce the activity by describing the situation and making sure that all of the students understand it Set a goal or outcome: Be sure the students understand what the product of the role play should be, whether a plan, a schedule, a group opinion, or some other product Use role cards: Give each student a card that describes the person or role to be played. For lower-level students, the cards can include words or expressions that that person might use. Brainstorm: Before you start the role play, have students brainstorm as a class to predict what vocabulary, grammar, and idiomatic expressions they might use. Keep groups small: Less-confident students will feel more able to participate if they do not have to compete with many voices. Give students time to prepare: Let them work individually to outline their ideas and the language they will need to express them. Be present as a resource, not a monitor: Stay in communicative mode to answer students' questions. Do not correct their pronunciation or grammar unless they specifically ask you about it.
- 41. Allow students towork at their own levels: Each student has individual language skills, an individual approach to working in groups, and a specific role to play in the activity. Do not expect all students to contribute equally to the discussion, or to use every grammar point you have taught. Do topical follow-up: Have students report to the class on the outcome of their role plays. Do linguistic follow-up: After the role play is over, give feedback on grammar or pronunciation problems you have heard. This can wait until another class period when you plan to review pronunciation or grammar anyway. Discussions, like role plays, succeed when the instructor prepares students first, and then gets out of the way. To succeed with discussions: Prepare the students: Give them input (both topical information and language forms) so that they will have something to say and the language with which to say it. Offer choices: Let students suggest the topic for discussion or choose from several options. Discussion does not always have to be about serious issues. Students are likely to be more motivated to participate if the topic is television programs, plans for a vacation, or news about mutual friends. Weighty topics like how to combat pollution are not as engaging and place heavy demands on students' linguistic competence.
- 42. Set a goalor outcome: This can be a group product, such as a letter to the editor, or individual reports on the views of others in the group. Use small groups instead of whole-class discussion: Large groups can make participation difficult. Keep it short: Give students a defined period of time, not more than 8-10 minutes, for discussion. Allow them to stop sooner if they run out of things to say. Allow students to participate in their own way: Not every student will feel comfortable talking about every topic. Do not expect all of them to contribute equally to the conversation. Do topical follow-up: Have students report to the class on the results of their discussion. Do linguistic follow-up: After the discussion is over, give feedback on grammar or pronunciation problems you have heard. This can wait until another class period when you plan to review pronunciation or grammar anyway. Through well-prepared communicative output activities such as role plays and discussions, you can encourage students to experiment and innovate with the language, and create a supportive atmosphere that allows them to make mistakes without fear of embarrassment. This will contribute to their self-confidence as speakers and to their motivation to learn more. Using Creative
- 43. Strategies to Promote Students’Speaking Skills This paper describes an investigation that was conducted over the course of my final year teaching practice placement in a Girls’ Primary School in Fujairah. The research was carried out in a classroom of twenty Grade Five Arabic-speaking girls where English is taught as a foreign language. I decided to investigate the teaching of speaking, and this topic was chosen because I noticed over the four years of teaching practice placements in my degree program that reading and writing skills are mostly emphasized in EFL classrooms in Emirati state schools, but speaking and listening are largely ignored. In addition, English language teachers in state schools in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) tend to give priority to finishing the course book, and they do not concentrate on speaking activities that much. Furthermore, students do not have the opportunity to communicate in English because Arabic-speaking parents, family and friends surround them, so I decided to engage these ten and eleven year old students in communicative
- 44. activities that wouldimprove their speaking, specifically by using songs and puppets. Research questions My preliminary investigation in the first semesterrevealed that teachers regard teaching speaking as a waste of time, and therefore it is a neglected skill, as they feel pressured to finish the course book. In addition, teachers do not use interesting activities to practise speaking; therefore students perform badly in this skill. I decided to implement some creative strategies to develop students’ speaking skills, based on the use of songs and puppets, and to find out the effect of these activities on students’ spoken language, on their motivation, and on their participation in class. My research questions were as follows: o To what extent do songs and puppets improve speaking? o What is the effect of using songs and puppets on students’ motivation to speak? o What effects do songs and puppets have on students' participation? Literature Review The skill of speaking skill is as crucial as any other language skill. The four skills
- 45. (reading, writing, speakingand listening) naturally appear together in every English class, even in the EFL context. As Peregoy and Boyle (2001) state, “Listening, speaking, reading and writing also occur naturally together in learning events in school at all grade levels, even though traditionally they were taught separately” (p. 107). In addition, Shumin (1997) states that learning to speak a foreign language requires more than knowing its grammar and vocabulary. Learners should acquire the skill through interaction with each other. However, it is difficult for EFL learners to speak appropriate English in the classroom because of the limited language use in their real lives. Using Creative Strategies to Promote Students’ Speaking Skills112 Affective factors are the most important issues that may promote students’ speaking. Affective factors include self esteem, emotion, attitude, anxiety, and motivation. Shumin believes that “L2 or foreign language learning is a complex task that is susceptible to human anxiety, which is associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self doubt,
- 46. and apprehension” (1997,para. 2). These are the factors that affect students’ speaking in most EFL contexts and there are other issues as well. For example, the language level may be too difficult, or too much is given at once and the amount of the language the teacher gives the students in each session may be too much, according to Shumin (1997). Motivating Students to Speak To motivate students in EFL contexts, teachers should include many activities and strategies that attract students’ attention and make them interested in the lesson. As Peck (1978), cited in Celce-Murcia (2001), states “Activities need to be child centered and communication should be authentic. This means that children are listening or speaking about something that interests them, for their own reasons, and not merely because a teacher has asked them to” (1978, p.139). Also, Peck (1978), cited in CelceMurcia (2001, p.139), outlines some points that the teacher should consider in the activities: a focus on meaning and value, not correctness; a focus on collaboration and
- 47. social development; theprovision of a rich context, and teaching the four skills through a variety of activities. A superior teacher encourages her/his students to speak English as much as possible inside and outside the classroom. EFL teachers must encourage students to use language for social interaction in the classroom. Brown (1994) advocates that students get enough opportunities to practise the language. This helps them to acquire the language in more natural contexts. Through interaction, students can build their own conversations and create meaning that they understand, and that supports and helps them. Krashen & Terrel (as cited in Lightbown&Spada, 1999)find that communication provides students with opportunities for them to focus on using the language rather than talking and learning the structure of the language. Therefore, the topics or themes around which students learn language should capture their attention and encourage them to interact more with each other. Teachers’ emphasis should be on making meaning, not on error correction. Strategies that Encourage Participation
- 48. The strategies theteacher should focus on should be interesting and should capture students’ attention. In the young learners’ classroom, these activities are usually centred on songs, poems, chants, drama, stories, games and Total Physical Response (TPR) activities.All these activities can affect young learners and enhance theirlearning the language. Deesri (2002) believes that many teachers consider games as merely fun activities that are a waste of time, but he states that games in the EFL context are much more than that. He believes that games include many factors such as rules, competition, relaxation, and learning which are all useful in promoting speaking. Games are useful because they offer situations that lower students’ stress and give students chances to engage in real communication. It is asserted that students are encouraged Mona Khameis113 when they have friendly competition with each other, so each student will participate in the classroom. Consequently, teachers can use these games to present and review new knowledge, vocabulary, and grammar. Games are good teaching tools that can be
- 49. used to developstudents’ language learning and practise communication. Teachers should take into consideration that songs can develop language skills, and bring enjoyment and fun into the classroom. As Schoepp (2001, Para. 8) suggests "The enjoyment aspect of learning language through songs is directly related to affective factors." The affective filter is one of the five hypotheses that Krashen presents. Krashen (as cited in Schoepp, 2001, Para. 6) explains that for optimal learning to occur the affective filter must be weak. A weak filter means that a positive attitude towards learning is present. Schoepp (2001, Para. 6) adds that songs are one of the methods that achieve a weak affective filter and promote language learning, and can be used to present a topic; practice language; stimulate discussion of attitude and feelings; provide a comfortable atmosphere and bring variety and fun to learning. In addition, using puppets helps students to interact with each other. As Gronna, Serna, Kennedy and Prater (1999, Para.1) believe, puppets can be used to teach the language
- 50. functions and thesocial skills of greeting, responding to conversation, and initiating conversation. Using puppets in the classroom is one of the ways to encourage students to learn English. Ozdeniz (2000, Para. 9) has stated that "Puppets can encourage your students to experiment more with the language and "have a go" when they may have otherwise remained silent." In EFL classrooms students are not comfortable and feel hesitant to speakEnglish because they are not sure of the words.So as Ozdeniz (2000, Para. 9) states, "when a child speaks through the puppet, it is not the child who is perceived as making errors but the puppet, and children find this liberating." The strategies the teacher uses can be fun and enjoyable, and at the same time achieve academic goals. Teachers should choose activities that enhance students learning, and avoid ones that are a waste of teachers’ and students’ time. Good & Brophy (2000, p. 30) state that "learning should be fun and motivation problems appear because the teacher somehow has converted an inherently enjoyable activity into
- 51. drudgery."It can thereforebe concluded that interesting and fun strategies can be used to promote speaking in the EFL classroom. According to Brown (1994), if strategies are intrinsically motivating and appeal to students’ goals and interests then it can have a positive impact on their speaking. The Teaching Strategy I decided to implement the use of songs and puppets as everyday activities to encourage students to speak about the set themes in their course book of “Days and Dates” and “It’s Fun”. The students sang the songs that I created, which were related to the units, as warming up activities. For each unit I created one or two songs, songs which were based on the language structures and vocabulary of the unit. In addition, I had puppets made for each group that represented different characters e.g. grandma, grandpa, father, mother and daughter. Students used the puppets to talk, using dialogues that they were given to practise and then present to their colleagues. After that, the students had to create their own dialogues and practise them, and then present
- 52. Using Creative Strategiesto Promote Students’ Speaking Skills114 them to their classmates. The songs were used everyday during my teaching practice placement, and the puppets were used twice a week. Research Approach Mills has defined Action Research as "any systematic inquiry conducted by a teacher …in the teaching/ learning environment to gather information about how their particular schools operate, how they teach, and how well their students learn" (Mills, 2003, p.5). This makes it an ideal research approach for teachers as it gives them an opportunity to solve problems in the classroom. It inspired me and provided me with a framework to investigate the use of creative strategies to encourage students’ speaking, especially the use of songs and puppets. Action research is made up of a four step process: identifying an area of focus, collecting data, analysing and interpreting the data, and developing an action plan, which is again evaluated, and the process continues until a