PRACTICAL LESSON 6

PLANNING AND PREPARING A SPEAKING LESSON

Theoretical Background:
1. What is the role of speaking in class? What are some factors that prevent, or discourage
students, from talking in English in the lesson?
Speaking has a central role in language learning. It helps students develop fluency and
accuracy, practice grammar and vocabulary in context and become confident speakers.
Factors that prevent or discourage students from speaking: fear of making mistakes, low
confidence, limited vocabulary or grammar knowledge, unclear instructions, teacher dominance.
2. What are the principles of teaching speaking?
Provide a clear purpose, create a friendly atmosphere, emphasize fluency and
communication, offer real-life tasks, give feedback.
3. What is a functional language lesson like?
Functional lesson shape: lead-in, presentation, clarify meaning/form/pronunciation,
controlled practice, freer practice, feedback.
(https://elttguide.com/the-main-10-steps-to-teach-functional-language/)
4. What are the stages of a speaking lesson based on a PWA scheme? What is the difference
between topic- and task-based activities?
PWA (Preparation - While-speaking - After-speaking)
Topic-based = opinion and idea sharing
Task-based = communication to complete a task

Practice:
1. Follow-up activities:
1.1. Match the classroom activities (1-7) with the types of speaking practice (A-C). You need
to use some of the options more than once.
Types of speaking practice:
A focus on pronunciation
B accuracy practice
C fluency practice
Classroom activities:
 1. We had to imagine that we were going to be on an island and decide in groups what ten
things to take with us from a list of items. C
2. My partner gave me the infinitives of different irregular verbs and I had to spell the past
participle. I got a point for every one I got right. B
3. We did a transformation drill. The teacher said a sentence and we had to make it into a
question as fast as we could with no mistakes. B
4. We worked in threes and were each given part of a story. We had to read the text and then
tell each other the information we knew to complete the whole story. C
5. We interview people in the street about what improvements they would like to see to the
town’s sports facilities. C
6. The teacher made shapes with her mouth but didn’t speak and we had to shout out what
word she was saying each time. A
7. When we were reading out the play, the teacher asked us to put more feeling into what we
were saying. A

1.2. Compare and contrast the speaking tasks (1-4). Do it according to: their aim / place in the
lesson; time for completion; interaction pattern; complexity.

№ Aim / Place in the lesson Time for Interaction Complexity

1. fluency, personal expression, past simple 5-7 m pair work low

2. fluency, personal expression, past simple 5-7 m pair work low

3. functional language in context/controlled practice 10-15 m pair work medium

4. creativity, collaboration/freer practice 20-25 m group work high

Task 1. In pairs, ask and answer the questions: 1) What was the most expensive thing you
bought last year? 2) What did you buy that was the biggest waste of money? Why?

Task 2. In pairs, ask and answer the questions: 1) When was the last time you went
shopping? 2) What did you buy?

Task 3. In pairs, buy and sell the things below. Student A is the customer, Student B is the
shop assistant. Then change the roles. Use the Speaking box to help you.
a hat a pair of jeans a coat / jacket
A: Good morning! Can I help you?
B: Yes, I’m looking for …..

Task 4. Work in groups of four or five and create a 30-60-second advert for a piece of
clothing.
Step 1. Think of examples of clothing adverts you like or remember. Answer the
following questions:
●​ Did the adverts make you laugh? Did they inspire emotions?
●​ What do you particularly remember about these adverts?
TIP. Most successful adverts inspire positive emotions. Think what feelings you would
like your views to have.
Step 2. Select a piece of clothing or an accessory you want to sell. Choose an item
form Exercise 1 or use your own ideas.
●​ Give it a name.
●​ Answer the following questions: What is the most important about the product?
What makes it different? Why might people want to buy it?
Then think how you can show it in your advert.
●​ Create a short story (script) for your advert. Think about the action (what
happens), the location (setting) and the characters. You may take notes or draw
pictures to help you.
●​ Write the advert’s slogan(s).
Step 3.
●​ Practise performing the advert.
●​ Perform it to your class live OR record a video and show it to the class.

1.3. Look at the lesson in the coursebook (Sue Kay, Vaughan Jones, Daniel Brayshaw.
Focus 1. SB. Lesson 5.6, p. 67) with regard to teaching functional language. Answer the
following questions:
1. What presentation technique(s) is / are used?
Contextualized dialogues, SPEAKING FOCUS box, role-play videos.
 2. What practice activities are used?
Dialogue completion, role-play, discussion.
3. What extra activities can be designed to teach functional language?
Fill-in-the-gap activities, storytelling.

1.4. Look at the lesson in the coursebook (Sue Kay, Vaughan Jones, Daniel Brayshaw.
Focus 2. SB. Lesson 5.8, p. 70). Identify the lesson type, the main and subsidiary aims of the
lesson. Prepare a lesson plan and complete the table. If necessary, design extra activities.
The lesson type: functional lesson
The main aim: to teach students to express their preferences using functional
language
The subsidiary aim: to develop students’ speaking fluency
Stages and their aims Procedure Interaction Time
Pattern
Lead-in: Activate prior Show images of different types of shops. Pair work 5m
knowledge and introduce Ask students to discuss in pairs: "Which
the topic type of shop do you prefer and why?"
Presentation: Introduce Present functional language. Provide Whole class 10 m
functional language for examples and explanations
expressing preferences
and opinions
Controlled practice: Students complete sentences using the Individual 10 m
Practice using functional functional language work
language in structured
activities
Freer practice: In pairs, students discuss various topics Pair work 15 m
Encourage students to using the functional language
use functional language
in more open contexts
Feedback: Review key Discuss common errors and highlight Whole class 5m
points and provide good examples from students'
 feedback discussions

Reflection:
Think about these teachers' comments. Which do you agree with and why?
1. My students get really embarrassed talking and making mistakes in front of their
classmates, so I don’t often ask them to speak in class.
Disagree, because only speaking practice can help students improve their speaking
skill.
2. I like asking my class to tell one another stories - they get so interested that they
don’t worry about the mistakes they make.
Agree, because storytelling is a good speaking practice. It’s personal so it creates a
friendly atmosphere in class.
3. I can’t do speaking activities in my class - the students make so much noise that the
teachers in the other classes complain.
Disagree, because speaking is an essential skill, so we can avoid it.