Questions

I remember a number of such scenarios myself. It can feel like swimming in treacle – not that I’ve ever tried that. But I have walked through mudflats. Anyhow,  I’m reminded of a fairly new class of about 18 Entry 3  learners.  I had hoped they would be conversing with each other in the few minutes before their lesson began. But they didn’t know each other well and they were largely silent. It was as though they had nothing to talk about. So I asked them just two questions. Firstly, how old each of them was. Then where they came from. I added the ages and listed the countries. Then I said they had over 800 years of experience between them and they came from a dozen countries. The penny dropped very quickly. They realised they had tons to ask about, talk about and share. Bingo! 

What do I conclude from this? Talking with strangers about nothing in particular or about random subjects in a foreign language in a class setting can be intimidating. It’s my job as a teacher to lower the barriers to participation. That might be by modelling, encouraging or by selecting an activity and a subject that empowers and the learners. 

One of the first questions in the teachers mind should be “Why are we all here”. The learners will have a whole bunch of reasons. You need to know why they are there and why you are there. That takes discussion and questions and working out. The question you have asked focuses on speaking skill, so you’ll work out between you what the learning and teaching programme will be. 

First think about the learner level. If you have beginners you might be looking at basic enunciation of the sounds, syllables and words. Truth be told, this is important at all levels. If the level of the learners is a little higher and they are able to be understood by native English speakers then you may want to look at features of connected speech. That will help them to sound less like daleks and more natural and fluent. If you have judged them correctly, the learners you are talking about know enough to talk about some interesting topics. So your issue is how to get them into it. There are loads of ways you might try.

A lot will depend upon what part of the lesson this speaking activity is.  If it’s a warmer then it will need to be very short and you’ll need to know that it is well within the grasp of your learners because you are dependent on their prior knowledge. The warmer will allow both you and them an open door into the rest of the lesson. You might ask for a relevant story or episode to be shared in the group. 

If the speaking activity comes in the main part of the lesson it could be a response to an audio or reading activity. The learners will then have something to go on. There will have been context given to them. They will also have vocabulary and language structures to prompt and aid them. 

Finally this might be a formative assessment in which you are expecting them to show speaking skills by presenting to the whole class or by taking part in a conversation or discussion. That will involve teaching appropriate skills such as turn taking, offering suggestions and clarifying. 

To start with allow them space and opportunity in the setting of a small group or pair group to share what they know. This can build up confidence and familiarity with the subject as they hear themselves and others speak about it. 

You have lots of ideas yourself but I would suggest taking just one subject and make that the focus of your “acting”. You could start by asking the class to vote on which one they would like to hear about. This gives them a sense of agency and ownership. It might even be that they are choosing something of relevance and interest to them. All of this is good for motivating and engaging learners. Your aim is to encourage participation and the engagement of skills and knowledge which the learners already have. Your aim should be for them to produce language rather than listen to yours. Of course many learners will want to hear you and your English and that is good. But in a speaking activity you want them to do the speaking. So reduce teacher talk time here. I know the embarrassment of painful silences but if you have set up the activity well and have made the instructions short, simple and clear then that’s half your job done. Pick out main verbs such as talk, tell, recall, ask, answer and emphasise them. Make sure that the instructions are understood by asking learners to repeat them. Then let them get on with it. You might even briefly leave the room if that helps. One method I use for this kind of exercise is to go into “party mode” so that they have to stand up and circulate and make sure that at least 5 people have heard their contribution within the 5 minutes of the exercise. 

As to how can you tell whether the reluctance is because of shyness or ignorance; you get to know that as you interact with your learners over the weeks. This takes time. Shyness you can help with by gentle encouragement and perhaps humour. Ignorance can be helped by making sure that the instructions are understood. Careful planning and design of your task will mean you have thought about what outcomes you are looking for. Make sure that your instructions are simple, clear and short. Then be patient, watchful and … quiet.

HTH

Ferris