Selasa, 25 Juni 2013

Activities To Promote Speaking

Discussions

After a content-based lesson, a discussion can be held for various reasons. The students may aim to arrive at a conclusion, share ideas about an event, or find solutions in their discussion groups. Before the discussion, it is essential that the purpose of the discussion activity is set by the teacher. In this way, the discussion points are relevant to this purpose, so that students do not spend their time chatting with each other about irrelevant things. For example, students can become involved in agree/disagree discussions. In this type of discussions, the teacher can form groups of students, preferably 4 or 5 in each group, and provide controversial sentences like “people learn best when they read vs. people learn best when they travel”. Then each group works on their topic for a given time period, and presents their opinions to the class. It is essential that the speaking should be equally divided among group members. At the end, the class decides on the winning group who defended the idea in the best way. This activity fosters critical thinking and quick decision making, and students learn how to express and justify themselves in polite ways while disagreeing with the others. For efficient group discussions, it is always better not to form large groups, because quiet students may avoid contributing in large groups. The group members can be either assigned by the teacher or the students may determine it by themselves, but groups should be rearranged in every discussion activity so that students can work with various people and learn to be open to different ideas. Lastly, in class or group discussions, whatever the aim is, the students should always be encouraged to ask questions, paraphrase ideas, express support, check for clarification, and so on.

Role Play

One other way of getting students to speak is role-playing. Students pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles. In role-play activities, the teacher gives information to the learners such as who they are and what they think or feel. Thus, the teacher can tell the student that "You are David, you go to the doctor and tell him what happened last night, and…" (Harmer, 1984)

Simulations

Simulations are very similar to role-plays but what makes simulations different than role plays is that they are more elaborate. In simulations, students can bring items to the class to create a realistic environment. For instance, if a student is acting as a singer, she brings a microphone to sing and so on. Role plays and simulations have many advantages. First, since they are entertaining, they motivate the students. Second, as Harmer (1984) suggests, they increase the self-confidence of hesitant students, because in role play and simulation activities, they will have a different role and do not have to speak for themselves, which means they do not have to take the same responsibility.

Information Gap

In this activity, students are supposed to be working in pairs. One student will have the information that other partner does not have and the partners will share their information. Information gap activities serve many purposes such as solving a problem or collecting information. Also, each partner plays an important role because the task cannot be completed if the partners do not provide the information the others need. These activities are effective because everybody has the opportunity to talk extensively in the target language.

Brainstorming

On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time. Depending on the context, either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate ideas quickly and freely. The good characteristics of brainstorming is that the students are not criticized for their ideas so students will be open to sharing new ideas.

Storytelling

Students can briefly summarize a tale or story they heard from somebody beforehand, or they may create their own stories to tell their classmates. Story telling fosters creative thinking. It also helps students express ideas in the format of beginning, development, and ending, including the characters and setting a story has to have. Students also can tell riddles or jokes. For instance, at the very beginning of each class session, the teacher may call a few students to tell short riddles or jokes as an opening. In this way, not only will the teacher address students’ speaking ability, but also get the attention of the class.

Interviews

Students can conduct interviews on selected topics with various people. It is a good idea that the teacher provides a rubric to students so that they know what type of questions they can ask or what path to follow, but students should prepare their own interview questions. Conducting interviews with people gives students a chance to practice their speaking ability not only in class but also outside and helps them becoming socialized. After interviews, each student can present his or her study to the class. Moreover, students can interview each other and "introduce" his or her partner to the class.

Story Completion

This is a very enjoyable, whole-class, free-speaking activity for which students sit in a circle. For this activity, a teacher starts to tell a story, but after a few sentences he or she stops narrating. Then, each student starts to narrate from the point where the previous one stopped. Each student is supposed to add from four to ten sentences. Students can add new characters, events, descriptions and so on.

Reporting

Before coming to class, students are asked to read a newspaper or magazine and, in class, they report to their friends what they find as the most interesting news. Students can also talk about whether they have experienced anything worth telling their friends in their daily lives before class.

Playing Cards

In this game, students should form groups of four. Each suit will represent a topic. For instance:

Diamonds: Earning money
Hearts: Love and relationships
Spades: An unforgettable memory
Clubs: Best teacher

Each student in a group will choose a card. Then, each student will write 4-5 questions about that topic to ask the other people in the group. For example:

If the topic "Diamonds: Earning Money" is selected, here are some possible questions:

Is money important in your life? Why?
What is the easiest way of earning money?
What do you think about lottery? Etc.

However, the teacher should state at the very beginning of the activity that students are not allowed to prepare yes-no questions, because by saying yes or no students get little practice in spoken language production. Rather, students ask open-ended questions to each other so that they reply in complete sentences.

Picture Narrating

This activity is based on several sequential pictures. Students are asked to tell the story taking place in the sequential pictures by paying attention to the criteria provided by the teacher as a rubric. Rubrics can include the vocabulary or structures they need to use while narrating.

Picture Describing

Another way to make use of pictures in a speaking activity is to give students just one picture and having them describe what it is in the picture. For this activity students can form groups and each group is given a different picture. Students discuss the picture with their groups, then a spokesperson for each group describes the picture to the whole class. This activity fosters the creativity and imagination of the learners as well as their public speaking skills.

Find the Difference

For this activity students can work in pairs and each couple is given two different pictures, for example, picture of boys playing football and another picture of girls playing tennis. Students in pairs discuss the similarities and/or differences in the pictures.

Suggestions For Teachers in Teaching Speaking

Here are some suggestions for English language teachers while teaching oral language:

Provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the target language by providing a rich environment that contains collaborative work, authentic materials and tasks, and shared knowledge.
Try to involve each student in every speaking activity; for this aim, practice different ways of student participation.
Reduce teacher speaking time in class while increasing student speaking time. Step back and observe students.
Indicate positive signs when commenting on a student's response.
Ask eliciting questions such as "What do you mean? How did you reach that conclusion?" in order to prompt students to speak more.
Provide written feedback like "Your presentation was really great. It was a good job. I really appreciated your efforts in preparing the materials and efficient use of your voice…"
Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very often while they are speaking. Correction should not distract student from his or her speech.
Involve speaking activities not only in class but also out of class; contact parents and other people who can help.
Circulate around classroom to ensure that students are on the right track and see whether they need your help while they work in groups or pairs.
Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need in speaking activities.
Diagnose problems faced by students who have difficulty in expressing themselves in the target language and provide more opportunities to practice the spoken language.

Problems in Speaking English as Foreign Language

There are many experts that suggest about problem. One of them says that problem will appear if there is inappropriate between exception and reality. Another defines that a problem will happen if someone’s necessity does not fulfill. A problem is something that if it appears many people will get dissatisfaction. It can make trouble and difficulty for him/herself or other people, and if people procure a problem, they always want to lose it. Problem is perceived gap between the existing state and a desire state, or a deviation from a norm, standard or status quo, although most problems turn out to have several solution. Problem is a question proposed for solution, anything which is required to be solved or done, or a source of difficulty.

The learners have their own difficulties in learning the language. Particularly in improving speaking skill is not easy for the students. The Following are the problems of speaking skill (Munjayanah, 2004: 17):

Inhabitation

Unlike reading, writing or listening activities, speaking requires some degree of real-time exposure to an audience. Learners are often inhibited about trying to say thing in foreign language in the classroom: worried about mistakes or simply shy of the attention that their speech attract.

Nothing to say

Even they are not inhibited, you often hear learners complain that they cannot think of anything to say: they have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should be speaking.

Low or uneven participation

Only one participant can talk at a time if he or she is to be heard; and in large group this means the each one will have only very little talking time. This problem is compounded of some learners to dominate, while other speaks very little or not a tall.

Mother tongue use

It is easier for the student to use their mother tongue in their class because it looks naturally. Therefore, most of the students are not disciplined in using the target language in the learning process.

What to do when we have these kind of problems?

Try to use English everyday in our class, and or outside the classroom. This can stimulate our behavior to always use English as habitual even daily conversation. Keep in touch with someone who likes English too, because they have much more attention than to those who don't.

Create a small group to train our English, whether in class or outside the class. Learning by doing is really important in learning to speak English. We can share information through the group, make small conversation, and check others error. This also can give extra additional vocabulary to the persons.

While we have problems in our dialect, the solution is train our pronunciation to be better. Find some videos, musics, or authentic conversations in English. See or hear, then practice the sounds that we've heard in the source.

Why Is Public Speaking Important?

Learning Objectives

Explore three types of public speaking in everyday life: informative, persuasive, and entertaining.
Understand the benefits of taking a course in public speaking.
Explain the benefits people get from engaging in public speaking.

In today’s world, we are constantly bombarded with messages both good and bad. No matter where you live, where you work or go to school, or what kinds of media you use, you are probably exposed to hundreds. if not thousands, of advertising messages every day. Researcher Norman W. Edmund estimates that by 2020 the amount of knowledge in the world will double every seventy-three days. Because we live in a world where we are overwhelmed with content, communicating information in a way that is accessible to others is more important today than ever before. To help us further understand why public speaking is important, we will first examine public speaking in everyday life. We will then discuss how public speaking can benefit you personally.

Everyday Public Speaking

Every single day people across the United States and around the world stand up in front of some kind of audience and speak. In fact, there’s even a monthly publication that reproduces some of the top speeches from around the United States called Vital Speeches of the Day (http://www.vsotd.com). Although public speeches are of various types, they can generally be grouped into three categories based on their intended purpose: informative, persuasive, and entertaining.

Informative Speaking

One of the most common types of public speaking is informative speaking. The primary purpose of informative presentations is to share one’s knowledge of a subject with an audience. Reasons for making an informative speech vary widely. For example, you might be asked to instruct a group of coworkers on how to use new computer software or to report to a group of managers how your latest project is coming along. A local community group might wish to hear about your volunteer activities in New Orleans during spring break, or your classmates may want you to share your expertise on Mediterranean cooking. What all these examples have in common is the goal of imparting information to an audience.
Informative speaking is integrated into many different occupations. Physicians often lecture about their areas of expertise to medical students, other physicians, and patients. Teachers find themselves presenting to parents as well as to their students. Firefighters give demonstrations about how to effectively control a fire in the house. Informative speaking is a common part of numerous jobs and other everyday activities. As a result, learning how to speak effectively has become an essential skill in today’s world.

Persuasive Speaking

A second common reason for speaking to an audience is to persuade others. In our everyday lives, we are often called on to convince, motivate, or otherwise persuade others to change their beliefs, take an action, or reconsider a decision. Advocating for music education in your local school district, convincing clients to purchase your company’s products, or inspiring high school students to attend college all involve influencing other people through public speaking.
For some people, such as elected officials, giving persuasive speeches is a crucial part of attaining and continuing career success. Other people make careers out of speaking to groups of people who pay to listen to them. Motivational authors and speakers, such as Les Brown (http://www.lesbrown.com), make millions of dollars each year from people who want to be motivated to do better in their lives. Brian Tracy, another professional speaker and author, specializes in helping business leaders become more productive and effective in the workplace (http://www.briantracy.com).
Whether public speaking is something you do every day or just a few times a year, persuading others is a challenging task. If you develop the skill to persuade effectively, it can be personally and professionally rewarding.

Entertaining Speaking

Entertaining speaking involves an array of speaking occasions ranging from introductions to wedding toasts, to presenting and accepting awards, to delivering eulogies at funerals and memorial services in addition to after-dinner speeches and motivational speeches. Entertaining speaking has been important since the time of the ancient Greeks, when Aristotle identified epideictic speaking (speaking in a ceremonial context) as an important type of address. As with persuasive and informative speaking, there are professionals, from religious leaders to comedians, who make a living simply from delivering entertaining speeches. As anyone who has watched an awards show on television or has seen an incoherent best man deliver a wedding toast can attest, speaking to entertain is a task that requires preparation and practice to be effective.

Personal Benefits of Public Speaking

Oral communication skills were the number one skill that college graduates found useful in the business world, according to a study by sociologist Andrew Zekeri.That fact alone makes learning about public speaking worthwhile. However, there are many other benefits of communicating effectively for the hundreds of thousands of college students every year who take public speaking courses. Let’s take a look at some of the personal benefits you’ll get both from a course in public speaking and from giving public speeches.

Benefits of Public Speaking Courses

In addition to learning the process of creating and delivering an effective speech, students of public speaking leave the class with a number of other benefits as well. Some of these benefits include

developing critical thinking skills,
fine-tuning verbal and nonverbal skills,
overcoming fear of public speaking.

Developing Critical Thinking Skills

One of the very first benefits you will gain from your public speaking course is an increased ability to think critically. Problem solving is one of many critical thinking skills you will engage in during this course. For example, when preparing a persuasive speech, you’ll have to think through real problems affecting your campus, community, or the world and provide possible solutions to those problems. You’ll also have to think about the positive and negative consequences of your solutions and then communicate your ideas to others. At first, it may seem easy to come up with solutions for a campus problem such as a shortage of parking spaces: just build more spaces. But after thinking and researching further you may find out that building costs, environmental impact from loss of green space, maintenance needs, or limited locations for additional spaces make this solution impractical. Being able to think through problems and analyze the potential costs and benefits of solutions is an essential part of critical thinking and of public speaking aimed at persuading others. These skills will help you not only in public speaking contexts but throughout your life as well. As we stated earlier, college graduates in Zekeri’s study rated oral communication skills as the most useful for success in the business world. The second most valuable skill they reported was problem-solving ability, so your public speaking course is doubly valuable!
Another benefit to public speaking is that it will enhance your ability to conduct and analyze research. Public speakers must provide credible evidence within their speeches if they are going to persuade various audiences. So your public speaking course will further refine your ability to find and utilize a range of sources.

Fine-Tuning Verbal and Nonverbal Skills

A second benefit of taking a public speaking course is that it will help you fine-tune your verbal and nonverbal communication skills. Whether you competed in public speaking in high school or this is your first time speaking in front of an audience, having the opportunity to actively practice communication skills and receive professional feedback will help you become a better overall communicator. Often, people don’t even realize that they twirl their hair or repeatedly mispronounce words while speaking in public settings until they receive feedback from a teacher during a public speaking course. People around the United States will often pay speech coaches over one hundred dollars per hour to help them enhance their speaking skills. You have a built-in speech coach right in your classroom, so it is to your advantage to use the opportunity to improve your verbal and nonverbal communication skills.

Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking

An additional benefit of taking a public speaking class is that it will help reduce your fear of public speaking. Whether they’ve spoken in public a lot or are just getting started, most people experience some anxiety when engaging in public speaking. Heidi Rose and Andrew Rancer evaluated students’ levels of public speaking anxiety during both the first and last weeks of their public speaking class and found that those levels decreased over the course of the semester.One explanation is that people often have little exposure to public speaking. By taking a course in public speaking, students become better acquainted with the public speaking process, making them more confident and less apprehensive. In addition, you will learn specific strategies for overcoming the challenges of speech anxiety. We will discuss this topic in greater detail in Chapter 3 "Speaking Confidently".

Benefits of Engaging in Public Speaking

Once you’ve learned the basic skills associated with public speaking, you’ll find that being able to effectively speak in public has profound benefits, including

influencing the world around you,
developing leadership skills,
becoming a thought leader.

Influencing the World around You

If you don’t like something about your local government, then speak out about your issue! One of the best ways to get our society to change is through the power of speech. Common citizens in the United States and around the world, like you, are influencing the world in real ways through the power of speech. Just type the words “citizens speak out” in a search engine and you’ll find numerous examples of how common citizens use the power of speech to make real changes in the world—for example, by speaking out against “fracking” for natural gas (a process in which chemicals are injected into rocks in an attempt to open them up for fast flow of natural gas or oil) or in favor of retaining a popular local sheriff. One of the amazing parts of being a citizen in a democracy is the right to stand up and speak out, which is a luxury many people in the world do not have. So if you don’t like something, be the force of change you’re looking for through the power of speech.

Developing Leadership Skills

Have you ever thought about climbing the corporate ladder and eventually finding yourself in a management or other leadership position? If so, then public speaking skills are very important. Hackman and Johnson assert that effective public speaking skills are a necessity for all leaders. If you want people to follow you, you have to communicate effectively and clearly what followers should do. According to Bender, “Powerful leadership comes from knowing what matters to you. Powerful presentations come from expressing this effectively. It’s important to develop both.”One of the most important skills for leaders to develop is their public speaking skills, which is why executives spend millions of dollars every year going to public speaking workshops; hiring public speaking coaches; and buying public speaking books, CDs, and DVDs.

Becoming a Thought Leader

Even if you are not in an official leadership position, effective public speaking can help you become a “thought leader.” Joel Kurtzman, editor of Strategy & Business, coined this term to call attention to individuals who contribute new ideas to the world of business. According to business consultant Ken Lizotte, “when your colleagues, prospects, and customers view you as one very smart guy or gal to know, then you’re a thought leader.”Typically, thought leaders engage in a range of behaviors, including enacting and conducting research on business practices. To achieve thought leader status, individuals must communicate their ideas to others through both writing and public speaking. Lizotte demonstrates how becoming a thought leader can be personally and financially rewarding at the same time: when others look to you as a thought leader, you will be more desired and make more money as a result. Business gurus often refer to “intellectual capital,” or the combination of your knowledge and ability to communicate that knowledge to others. Whether standing before a group of executives discussing the next great trend in business or delivering a webinar (a seminar over the web), thought leaders use public speaking every day to create the future that the rest of us live in.

Key Takeaways

People have many reasons for engaging in public speaking, but the skills necessary for public speaking are applicable whether someone is speaking for informative, persuasive, or entertainment reasons.
Taking a public speaking class will improve your speaking skills, help you be a more critical thinker, fine-tune your verbal and nonverbal communication skills, and help you overcome public speaking anxiety.
Effective public speaking skills have many direct benefits for the individual speaker, including influencing the world around you, developing leadership skills, and becoming a go-to person for ideas and solutions.

THE COMPONENTS OF SPEAKING ABILITY

As proverb says ‘practice makes perfect’. Therefore, students must practice to speak English as often as possible so that they are able to speak English fluently and accurately. A part of that, to speak English, we have to know some important component. The component is what aspect influencing how well people speak English. Here is the component of speaking skill according to syakur.According to Syakur (1987: 5), speaking is a complex skill because at least it is concerned with components of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency.

1) Grammar

It is needed for students to arrange a correct sentence in conversation. It is in line with explanation suggested by Heaton (1978: 5) that student’s ability to manipulate structure and to distinguish appropriate grammatical form in appropriate one. The utility of grammar is also to learn the correct way to gain expertise in a language in oral and written form.

2) Vocabulary

Vocabulary means the appropriate diction which is used in communication. Without having a sufficient vocabulary, one cannot communicate effectively or express their ideas in both oral and written form. Having limited vocabulary is also a barrier that precludes learners from learning a language. Language teachers, therefore should process considerable knowledge on how to manage an interesting classroom so that the learners can gain a great success in their vocabulary learning. Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.

3) Pronunciation

Pronunciation is the way for students’ to produce clearer language when they speak. It deals with the phonological process that refers to the components of a grammar made up of the elements and principles that determine how sounds vary and pattern in a language. There are two features of pronunciation; phonemes and supra segmental features. A speaker who constantly mispronounces a range of phonemes can be extremely difficult for a speaker from another language community to understand (Gerard, 2000:11).

4) Fluency

Fluency can be defined as the ability to speak fluently and accurately. Fluency in speaking is the aim of many language learners. Signs of fluency include a reasonably fast speed of speaking and only a small number of pauses and “ums” or “ers”. These signs indicate that the speaker does not have to spend a lot of time searching for the language items needed to express the message (Brown. 1997: 4).

Goals and Techniques for Teaching Speaking

The goal of teaching speaking skills is communicative efficiency. Learners should be able to make themselves understood, using their current proficiency to the fullest. They should try to avoid confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, and to observe the social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation.

To help students develop communicative efficiency in speaking, instructors can use a balanced activities approach that combines language input, structured output, and communicative output.

Language input comes in the form of teacher talk, listening activities, reading passages, and the language heard and read outside of class. It gives learners the material they need to begin producing language themselves.

Language input may be content oriented or form oriented.

Content-oriented input focuses on information, whether it is a simple weather report or an extended lecture on an academic topic. Content-oriented input may also include descriptions of learning strategies and examples of their use.
Form-oriented input focuses on ways of using the language: guidance from the teacher or another source on vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar (linguistic competence); appropriate things to say in specific contexts (discourse competence); expectations for rate of speech, pause length, turn-taking, and other social aspects of language use (sociolinguistic competence); and explicit instruction in phrases to use to ask for clarification and repair miscommunication (strategic competence).

In the presentation part of a lesson, an instructor combines content-oriented and form-oriented input. The amount of input that is actually provided in the target language depends on students' listening proficiency and also on the situation. For students at lower levels, or in situations where a quick explanation on a grammar topic is needed, an explanation in English may be more appropriate than one in the target language.

For more on input, see Guidelines for Instruction.

Structured output focuses on correct form. In structured output, students may have options for responses, but all of the options require them to use the specific form or structure that the teacher has just introduced.

Structured output is designed to make learners comfortable producing specific language items recently introduced, sometimes in combination with previously learned items. Instructors often use structured output exercises as a transition between the presentation stage and the practice stage of a lesson plan. textbook exercises also often make good structured output practice activities.

In communicative output, the learners' main purpose is to complete a task, such as obtaining information, developing a travel plan, or creating a video. To complete the task, they may use the language that the instructor has just presented, but they also may draw on any other vocabulary, grammar, and communication strategies that they know. In communicative output activities, the criterion of success is whether the learner gets the message across. Accuracy is not a consideration unless the lack of it interferes with the message.

In everyday communication, spoken exchanges take place because there is some sort of information gap between the participants. Communicative output activities involve a similar real information gap. In order to complete the task, students must reduce or eliminate the information gap. In these activities, language is a tool, not an end in itself.

In a balanced activities approach, the teacher uses a variety of activities from these different categories of input and output. Learners at all proficiency levels, including beginners, benefit from this variety; it is more motivating, and it is also more likely to result in effective language learning.

9 Tehnik Mengajar Speaking (Technique for Teaching Speaking) Kalau melihat model pembelajaran Speaking, selama ini masih mengandalkan model menghapalkan dialog kemudian maju ke depan kelas untuk mempraktekannya. Kegiatan ini dilakukan biasanya karena guru ingin agar kegiatan belajar mengajar cepat selesai tanpa repot-repot, atau tidak tahu apa yang harus dilakukan dalam mengajar Speaking. Anggapan sementara, pembelajaran Speaking itu rumit dan butuh keberanian siswa untuk memproduksi ucapan. Inilah yang sering ditakutkan para guru. Mereka mengira Speaking itu butuh waktu lama dan sulit bagi siswa untuk mengadaptasinya. Okelah, mari kita telaah 9 tehnik mengajar Speaking berikut ini. Dengan tehnik-tehnik ini anggapan bahwa Speaking bagi siswa itu sulit, bisa dihilangkan. 1. Ask and Answer. Siswa diminta melakukan tanya jawab. Prosesnya, mintalah siswa mencatat beberapa pertanyaan interview kalau perlu dihapalkan. Kemudian bebaskan siswa bertanya kepada teman di kelasnya. Sesuaikan pertanyaan dengan tema. Misal tema Personal Identitiy, Shopping List, Map dan lain-lain. Untuk mengecek apakah siswa melakukan tugas tersebut, mintalah mereka membuat catatan yang harus dilaporkan kepada guru setelah proses pembelajaran berakhir. Guru hanya memonitor siswa dan memberikan waktu untuk siswa melakukan tanya jawab. 2. Describe and Draw. Siswa dibuat berpasangan. Siswa A mempunyai gambar yang tak diketahui oleh siswa B, begitu pula sebaliknya. Siswa A menerangkan gambar yang ia punyai dan siswa B menggambar sesuai keterangan siswa A. Setelah siswa A selesai, ganti siswa B menerangkan gambarnya. Mintalah mereka membandingkan gambarnya dan memberi nilai sesuai selera mereka. 3. Discussion. Tentukan sebuah topik dan mintalah siswa secara berkelompok mendiskusikan topik sesuai gambar. Tehnik ini cocok diterapkan bagi intermediate dan advance learners. 4. Guessing. Guru atau beberapa murid mempunyai sebuah informasi yang harus ditebak oleh siswa atau kelompok lain dengan menanyakan dalam Bahasa Inggris. 5. Rememberring Siswa menutup mata dan mengingat gambar misalnya benda di dalam kelas atau letak tempat-tempat. Tehnik ini efektif untuk mengasah daya ingat dan meminimalisir lupa terhadap kosakata. 6. Miming. Seorang siswa mempraktekkan mimik tertentu semisal perasaan, melakukan suatu kegiatan, dan lainnya. Sementara siswa yang lain menebak. 7. Ordering. Siswa diminta mengurutkan sesuatu dengan menanyakan dimana letaknya sampai menemukan tempat yang sesuai. 8. Completing a form/questionnaire. Siswa bertanya jawab, atau menyediakan informasi tertentu untuk menyempurnakan sebuah formulir atau kuis. Tehnik ini efektif diterapkan pada pelajaran berhubungan dengan identitas, semisal formulir lowongan kerja, pengisian paspor dan lainnya. 9. Role Play. Tehnik ini cocok untuk pembelajar yang telah mencapai level intermediate dan di atasnya. Siswa mempraktekkan sebuah situasi semisal di kantor polisi, pengadilan, drama, dan lain-lain. Siswa hanya diminta menggunakan ungkapan-ungkapan yang pernah dipelajari atau menggunakan bantuan kartu. Guru bertindak memberi arahan dan memonitoring kegiatan. Demikian 9 tehnik mengajar speaking yang bisa guru terapkan di dalam kelas. Semoga bermanfaat

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9 Tehnik Mengajar Speaking (Technique for Teaching Speaking) Kalau melihat model pembelajaran Speaking, selama ini masih mengandalkan model menghapalkan dialog kemudian maju ke depan kelas untuk mempraktekannya. Kegiatan ini dilakukan biasanya karena guru ingin agar kegiatan belajar mengajar cepat selesai tanpa repot-repot, atau tidak tahu apa yang harus dilakukan dalam mengajar Speaking. Anggapan sementara, pembelajaran Speaking itu rumit dan butuh keberanian siswa untuk memproduksi ucapan. Inilah yang sering ditakutkan para guru. Mereka mengira Speaking itu butuh waktu lama dan sulit bagi siswa untuk mengadaptasinya. Okelah, mari kita telaah 9 tehnik mengajar Speaking berikut ini. Dengan tehnik-tehnik ini anggapan bahwa Speaking bagi siswa itu sulit, bisa dihilangkan. 1. Ask and Answer. Siswa diminta melakukan tanya jawab. Prosesnya, mintalah siswa mencatat beberapa pertanyaan interview kalau perlu dihapalkan. Kemudian bebaskan siswa bertanya kepada teman di kelasnya. Sesuaikan pertanyaan dengan tema. Misal tema Personal Identitiy, Shopping List, Map dan lain-lain. Untuk mengecek apakah siswa melakukan tugas tersebut, mintalah mereka membuat catatan yang harus dilaporkan kepada guru setelah proses pembelajaran berakhir. Guru hanya memonitor siswa dan memberikan waktu untuk siswa melakukan tanya jawab. 2. Describe and Draw. Siswa dibuat berpasangan. Siswa A mempunyai gambar yang tak diketahui oleh siswa B, begitu pula sebaliknya. Siswa A menerangkan gambar yang ia punyai dan siswa B menggambar sesuai keterangan siswa A. Setelah siswa A selesai, ganti siswa B menerangkan gambarnya. Mintalah mereka membandingkan gambarnya dan memberi nilai sesuai selera mereka. 3. Discussion. Tentukan sebuah topik dan mintalah siswa secara berkelompok mendiskusikan topik sesuai gambar. Tehnik ini cocok diterapkan bagi intermediate dan advance learners. 4. Guessing. Guru atau beberapa murid mempunyai sebuah informasi yang harus ditebak oleh siswa atau kelompok lain dengan menanyakan dalam Bahasa Inggris. 5. Rememberring Siswa menutup mata dan mengingat gambar misalnya benda di dalam kelas atau letak tempat-tempat. Tehnik ini efektif untuk mengasah daya ingat dan meminimalisir lupa terhadap kosakata. 6. Miming. Seorang siswa mempraktekkan mimik tertentu semisal perasaan, melakukan suatu kegiatan, dan lainnya. Sementara siswa yang lain menebak. 7. Ordering. Siswa diminta mengurutkan sesuatu dengan menanyakan dimana letaknya sampai menemukan tempat yang sesuai. 8. Completing a form/questionnaire. Siswa bertanya jawab, atau menyediakan informasi tertentu untuk menyempurnakan sebuah formulir atau kuis. Tehnik ini efektif diterapkan pada pelajaran berhubungan dengan identitas, semisal formulir lowongan kerja, pengisian paspor dan lainnya. 9. Role Play. Tehnik ini cocok untuk pembelajar yang telah mencapai level intermediate dan di atasnya. Siswa mempraktekkan sebuah situasi semisal di kantor polisi, pengadilan, drama, dan lain-lain. Siswa hanya diminta menggunakan ungkapan-ungkapan yang pernah dipelajari atau menggunakan bantuan kartu. Guru bertindak memberi arahan dan memonitoring kegiatan. Demikian 9 tehnik mengajar speaking yang bisa guru terapkan di dalam kelas. Semoga bermanfaat.

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Improve English Speaking Skill

Once you’ve learned the basics of English, it’s very important to keep practicing and looking for ways to improve your verbal skills. This includes your ability to comprehend verbal English – as well as speak it. Unfortunately, if you feel self-conscious, you’ll miss out on many opportunities to practice and gain the type of experience that will help you speak fluently. Aside from using a tape recorder, or conversing over a computer, there are several other ways that you can practice speaking and comprehending verbal English.

Improving verbal comprehension with music

No matter where you live – or what language you speak – there’s bound to be some type of music you enjoy. Search online to find English speaking singers in the genre you enjoy. Listening to music in English will give you a feel for the underlying rhythm of the language, as well as for the colloquial expressions used commonly in conversational English.
If you can’t understand the words in the song at first, you can look up the lyrics on the internet and read along as you listen to the song. As you become more comfortable with the speech patterns, try singing along with the recording. You may also want to look and see if there are any songs that you know in your language that are also recorded in English. Since you’ll already know the words to these songs, you’ll be better able to understand the translations to English.

Using karaoke to improve verbal expression

Karaoke is a fun, easy way to sing along to your favorite musical arrangements. Once you know the words to a song, you can sing them along with the music. This will help you to add some inflection to your speech patterns, as well as adjust the rate you normally speak at. Practicing karaoke songs will also give you a broad introduction to the type of music that is popular in English-speaking cultures.
While this may sound silly, children who are first learning English sing the alphabet for practice. Not only does this help them recognize letters later on, it’s also useful for associating sounds with those letters. Therefore, when you are trying to improve your verbal speech patterns, singing the English alphabet out loud can also be of help to you.

Write poetry and speak it out loud

Writing poetry is an excellent way to improve your written and verbal English language skills. When you speak your poems out loud, you’ll have the additional opportunity to try new sentence pacing, as well as hear the way different sounds fit together. In some cases, you may find that you enjoy writing in poetry enough to enter contests or create a special blog space for them.
Even though you may have many practical purposes for learning English, taking advantage of the fun parts of the language can help you develop your verbal conversation skills as well. For example, listening to English language music is a wonderful, fun way to learn new words and pick up on the creative ways that English words can be assembled. You can also use poetry and other types of rhyming methods in a similar way. The important thing is to verbally sound out the sentences, songs, and poems that you create to improve your proficiency at verbal English.

Using Puppets to Make Child More Speak-up

Puppets provide a wide range of benefits for children in a child care setting. Child care providers can use puppets, whether they are purchased at the store or homemade, to enhance almost any area of the child carecurriculum. Children of all ages can enjoy using puppets in child care.

Benefits of Using Puppets in a Child Care Setting

Puppets are a great way to engage the attention and imagination of children of all ages. Using puppets in the child care curriculum is an enjoyable way to promote children's learning of new skills and concepts. Benefits of using puppets in child care include the following:

Social skills: Puppets can increase children's communication and social skills by providing structured opportunities to interact with the puppets. Children can also practice these skills by using puppets to interact with other children.
Emotional development: Puppets can support children emotionally by giving them a "friend" to talk to, or a way to talk to other children without having to speak directly.
Confidence in reading and speaking: Children who are reluctant to speak or read out loud may be more willing to talk or read to a puppet.
Music appreciation: Puppets can make music and creative movement more interesting and can teach children the words and movements to new songs.
Motor skills: Manipulating puppets can be a positive way to encourage movement and to practice gross and fine motor control.
Guidance: Children can learn appropriate behaviors by watching the puppet's example, or the puppet can introduce and explain class rules.
Encouraging creativity: Children can use puppets to come up with stories, scenarios, and creative ways to solve problems.
Capturing attention: A puppet can be a good tool to capture the attention of young children in large-group and small-group settings, especially if the adult gives the puppet an engaging "personality."
Promoting dramatic play: Puppets can be easy-to-manipulate characters in a variety of dramatic play themes and stories.

Ways to Use Puppets in Child Care

Puppets can be used across many different parts of the early childhood curriculum. Here are a few common places where puppets can enhance young children's play and learning:

Dramatic play: Children can use puppets to act out their own scenarios and stories.
Transitions: Puppets are a great tool for telling children what activity is coming next. For example, Wanda the Chef might come out of her kitchen to let the children know it's time to clean up for snack/lunch.
Games: Puppets can lead games with children, such as "Simon Says" and "I-Spy." Puppets can also participate in the game, either as a positive role model or as an example of misbehavior that the children can help correct.
Reading: Children can practice reading their favorite books to puppets, especially if they're too shy to read in front of teachers or other children. Children who are not reading yet can make up stories to tell the puppet, or "read" to them by telling a familiar story using the illustrations in the storybook. Puppets can also read children their favorite books.
Creative Art: Puppets can paint with children or introduce a new craft to the children.
Puppet Shows: Children can use puppets to put on their own puppet shows for other students or their child care providers. Child care providers can also use puppet shows to introduce new concepts to children.
Music Time: Puppets can sing and dance during large group activities.

Types of Puppets

Puppets come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, races, and ethnicities. Some puppets have mouths, legs, etc. that move, while others may not. Puppets can be:

People
Animals
Insects
Store-bought
Homemade
Hand-held
Wrapped around fingers
Pulled over hands
Controlled by strings

In addition to the classroom puppets, give children the opportunity to make their own individual puppets out of socks or brown paper bags, sticks, spoons, balls, gloves, or mittens. Encourage the children to be as creative as possible.