In class, my students do a lot of mock speaking exams.
Picture description is fairly easy for the student to control as he is on his own, with no interference from the teacher and he can, to a certain extent, know in advance how he is going to structure his description. No worries here!
The Interaction between the teacher and the student is the part of the exam that causes more stress and anxiety. The student doesn’t know what he’s going to be asked about and sometimes students find it difficult to get started and gather their thoughts. Some students are very clever and very quick at organising the answer in their minds; I would say it comes naturally to them, while other students need more time to think of a coherent argument. Unfortunately, most students fall into the second category and they need all the advice we can offer them.
There are some techniques you can use to give yourself some time to think about what you are going to say, but I would advise you to use them in a sensible way and make sure you don’t answer every question with a filler, as you will certainly run the risk of sounding very unnatural.
♥Use the typical filler sounds:
-ah, mm, um, uh,
♥Repeat the question:
-” Umm … What would be my ideal job??? Well…”
♥Pretend you haven’t understood the question:
-” Could you repeat the question, please?”
-“Sorry, I didn’t hear what you said. Could you repeat the question?”
♥Express a lack of opinion:
“I’m afraid I don’t know much about it!”
-“It’s difficult to say!”
-“I have never really thought about it!”
-“Well, I don’t know, but I think /people say…”
Hope it helps you!! And remember USE WITH CAUTION!
After almost eight years posting ( I had another blog before this one) I have to say that I am absolutely convinced that if it were not for my blog,I wouldn’t be able to find and remember half the activities that I do in my class. Don’t misunderstand me !!! I’m not implying by any means that I’m sort of disorganised or forgetful; a teacher should never fall into this category, but the truth is that this blog has helped me tons to have all my stuff organised. That must have been the reason that prompted me to start writing… but to be honest, I cannot remember! :).
Two activities that I did yesterday with my students and that I don’t want to forget are
1. A small warm-up to introduce Used To
2. A fun nice short writing game that requires no preparation
1. Introducing Used To. The picture below shows what I wrote on the whiteboard. I made sure I gave examples of past actions -in the diagram the font is in black- and past states -in blue. (Remember: We use ‘used to’ for something that happened regularly in the past but no longer happens or for something that was true but no longer is).
At this stage, a good performance makes all the difference.
Students pay more attention when you dramatise or introduce the idea in a nice way. Let’s see two examples. Which do you think will make the student pay more attention?
1. OK, Today, I am going to explain Used to, It is used to…. and here are some examples… Do you understand? Any questions?
2. Ok, folks !! That’s me 10 years ago!! Look at my hair now!! What colour is it? Do you think it suits me?? Thanks so much !! You’re so sweet! Now I have fair hair but 10 years ago, I used to have dark hair. What about you? Has anybody changed their hairstyle?? Yes, teacher, I had dark hair too and now I have red hair!! Ok ! María, so in English, you can say! I used to have dark hair but now my hair is red.
The second option works much better, trust me on this one!
2. WRITING GAME: I HAVE RETIRED
Target language : Used To to describe past habits or states, contrasted with the present
Preparation: none
Level : B1/B2
Time: about 15 minutes
Procedure:
Setting the context. Tell students they have to imagine they are 70 and they are retired. They are happier in retirement than when they were working but there are some things that they still miss.
Step 1. Students in pairs or in threes choose the job they used to have.
Step 2. Students will need to produce four sentences using Used To , giving clues for the other groups to guess their job.
All the sentences must contain ” Used to” in the positive or the negative
the first sentence will contain the clue most difficult to guess
the last sentence will contain the easiest clue
The first sentence will be awarded 4 points and the last one 1 point
Step 3. Each group will name a spokesperson who will read out the clues. It’s important ,at this stage, to ask students to speak up and clearly . Some rules:
The spokesperson will read the first sentence and the other groups will raise a hand if they think they know the answer.
Only one guess is allowed for each clue
If the answer is correct, they will be awarded the four points, if it is not,the second clue will be read for three points.
Example
4 points . I used to work with a lot of people
3 points. I used to work after “work”
2 points. I used to use my voice a lot
1 point . I used to work with children
How many clues did you need to hear?? Yes, the answer is TEACHER
3. LEARNING WITH SONGS. Is there a best way to learn?
This is a beautiful song by the Newcastle songwriter James Morrison and it is called Once When I was Little . I used some time ago to talk about Childhood Memories and to revise Used To. I hope you like it. I love it!
Do you know the difference between these three seemingly identical terms?
Let’s start by stating the obvious, all of them are related to “teaching”; but is there a difference between them? Indeed there is, as otherwise I wouldn’t be bothering you with this issue and well you know it! 🙂
Alright, let’s get down to the point. I know you’re all on tenterhooks and I don’t want to see you suffer.
At school, there are teachers. At university , there are lecturers and professors.
♥A lecturer is a university teacher who has just started teaching at college or university. Lecturers do not have tenures ( permanent position) and they are at an early stage of their careers.
Some words that collocate with lecturer are:
I was a junior lecturer in Spanish at Oxford University when I was in my 30s
♥A professor, on the other hand, is the principal teacher in a department and he usually has a doctorate degree. When he first gets his doctorate degree, he becomes an assistant professor and teaches for 5 or 6 years. Then, he is given tenure and becomes an associate professor and finally he can promote to become a full professor. So, professor is the highest rank an academic can get.
Some words that collocate with professor are
I spent a year as a visiting professor at Oviedo University. He is a distinguised professor of history.
To finish, I would remind you that teachers give lessons and lecturers and professors give lectures.
One of the things that you need to take into account when describing a picture is that you cannot be 100% sure what is happening in the picture. Therefore, you need to use appropriate language to show you are guessing. You have to speculate about the pictures For example: He is likely to / she’ll probably find it quite tough… etc
Some structures you can use:
Look as if + sentence/ Seem as if + sentence : he looks as if / seems as if he is looking for something
Seem + to infinitive: he seems to be tired/ he seems to be having a great time
Look/ Seem + adjective: They look/ seem quite tired
Appear + to infinitive : She doesn’t appear to be concentrated on what she’s doing
Some modal verbs you can use.
Must : for positive deduction. He must be happy because he’s smiling. The photo must have been taken in summer.
Can’t : for negative deduction. He can’t be going to school because he is not carrying books.
May/ Might/Could : for posibility. He could be telling her something she doesn’t like. The photo might have been taken in winter as they are wearing winter clothes.
Words like : perhaps, maybe…
Let’s listen to an example now.
You’ll hear a girl called Magda practising this part of the Speaking test
Raise your hand if you have never had a problem! Nobody??? Good! That’s what I thought! Now, raise your hand if you have never asked for advice!! I see !! OK ! Maybe some of you don’t like to ask for advice!!
Ok folks !!! What’s clear is that we all have problems and and when we have them, we most usually turn to friends or family asking for advice; it remains to be seen whether we follow the advice but even if we end up feeling that the advice given hasn’t helped much, I’m sure, at least, you would feel grateful just because someone you trust has been willing to take the time to listen to you.
In this post, I want to share with you an activity to practise giving advice, which has worked really well with my students (see photo below)
LEVEL: B1
AIM:to give written advice using
♥I think / I don’t think you should…
♥ If I were you , I would…
MATERIALS: A clean sheet of paper and a pen or you can download the template here.
STEPS
1. Introduce / revise the two structures above, used to give advice. Share with your students a problem and ask them to offer you advice using the two structures above. Choose the funniest or most sensible advice as the best offered.
2. Give students a copy of I NEED SOME ADVICE or display the template so that they can copy the information on a clean sheet of paper.
2. Students write their name and their problem in the space provided and leave it on their table, face up.
3. Introduce the idea of Agony Aunts ( see definitonhere) and tell students they are going to act as agony aunts to solve some problems.
4. Students stand up and they go around the class reading their classmates’ problems and writing their piece of advice in the space provided, together with their name inside the brackets. The same advice cannot be repeated. Allow 10 minutes for this step
5. Students sit down at their desks, read the advice offered for their problems and decide on the best. Problem and advice will be read aloud. The students who has offered the best advice gets one point. See who gets more points and name him the new Agony Aunt.
