Mongolian State university of Education

Language skills

How do you improve your speaking skill?

2011 years

Encouraging Students to Speak More in Class

Most junior and senior high school students are not confident when speaking English.　Teachers often say that their students are "shy", but most often the reason is because students have little practice speaking communicative—NOT MEMORIZED—English.  With practice and a positive attitude, every student can improve their speaking ability.  The following are some suggestions for encouraging your students to speak:

ь  Ask several students, individually, how they feel. Teach them several different ways of responding.　Every student, every day, is not "fine"

ь  Ask students about their activities.　Find out what they did during their vacation, free time, or weekends.

ь  Give your students a minute or two at the beginning of the lesson in order to have a conversation in pairs.　The topic can be anything.

·         In Team-Teaching classes, spend several minutes talking with the AET at the beginning of class.  After the conversation, ask students some questions about the contents.　Let students ask any questions that they may have.  Encourage students to speak to the AET directly.　DON’T translate for them, but DO help them clarify their own expressions.

·         Make interesting and fun communication activities that give students a REASON for speaking English.　Make classes student-centered (students do the activities on their own) so that they are active.

Here are some ideas:  

ь  Pair Work:   dialogues with their partner, information gap           activities, and interviews.

ь  Group Work: quizzes and contests, writing and                          performing skits, group presentations,                             summarizing news articles into their own                    words, word games, discussing their                       opinions about a topic.

ь  Class Work:         scramble activities, interviews and surveys,             games, question and answer.

ь  Ask your students "Why" questions.　This makes them think more and form short sentences.　When a student struggles with an answer to a "why" question, NEVER translate the question into Japanese, or they will never try to understand the English.　Just ask the question in a slightly easier way.

ь  Make students answer multiple-choice by reading the whole sentence (especially for Oral Communication at SHS).　Ask them a follow-up question to check their understanding.

ь  Try to avoid correcting your students when they are speaking.　Natural communication is not possible if the speaker becomes self-conscious of making mistakes.　Correct students after they have finished speaking, or point out the common mistakes of several speakers.

ь  Make student speeches a part of every class.　Draw up a schedule, and have one or two students each lesson give a presentation about an assigned topic.  “Show and Tell” is a simple way to get students talking about something they’re interested in.  Also, encourage your students to take part in speech contests.　Ask the AET for help.

ь  Assign students to make vocabulary tests or quizzes.　Let them be the teacher.　Choose a student to ask the comprehension questions or read a listening exercise.

ь  Try discussion and debate.　Use controversial topics where each student will have an opinion.

Improving Your Note Taking

Effective note taking is one of the keys to succeeding in school. Students should devote a considerable amount of time reviewing information discussed during classroom lectures. It is very difficult remembering specific details from classroom lectures without good notes.
These note taking strategies will help you to take better notes:

§  Make clear and accurate notes
Make sure to take legible and accurate notes since it is not uncommon to forget key details discussed in class after it has ended. Frequently, students comprehend the teacher’s lecture, so they’ll neglect to jot down specific details only to forget them later. Students who keep accurate notes can review them later to fully grasp key concepts during personal study time. Additionally, since during classroom lectures teachers frequently cover many topics, effective notes enable students to concentrate on specific topics.

§  Come to class prepared
Students properly prepared for class usually take better notes. Proper preparation includes completing assigned reading prior to class and reviewing notes from previous lectures. Students who do this can ask questions about confusing concepts and be prepared for new topics.

§  Compare your notes
To ensure your notes are as accurate and detailed as possible, compare them with the notes of other students after class is over. This is useful because your colleagues will frequently write down lecture details that you forgot or missed. This strategy will make classroom notes more thorough and precise.

§  Minimize distractions
Effective note takers avoid classroom distractions. This can include sitting in spots with fewer distractions and not signing up for classes with friends that you might want to make comments to during lectures. Some students sit in spots where it is difficult to constantly glance at the clock.

§  Organize your notes
Notes organized by date, class, and subject make it easier to locate specific lecture details. It is also a good idea to keep information from different dates and classes separated or beginning each class with a new piece of paper.

§  Use abbreviations and symbols
Since teachers usually cover a lot of information during each lecture, it can be hard jotting everything down. This is why it is a good idea to use symbols or abbreviate long words and write short phrases in your notes. Many students use these symbols and abbreviations while taking notes: & (and), w/o (without), eg (for example), ie (that is). When utilizing abbreviations, create a key of your most commonly used abbreviations, so you will not forget them.

§  Write clearly
Effective notes will be of no benefit if they’re unreadable. This is why it is important to use good penmanship when taking notes. It is also recommend to leave space in margins and near key concepts in your notepad, so you can add important details related to previous lecture topics in future lectures.

§  Review your notes
In order to retain information discussed during lectures, it is best to review notes right after class. This will help you better understand the lecture, your notes, and it will enable you to focus on what you just learned for long-term retention.

§  Write down questions
No matter how intelligent someone is, all college students will be confused and have questions during college. For this reason, it is a good idea to write down questions to ask after class or during subsequent lectures. You can also answer your own questions through a web search or using reference books.

If you want to increase the effectiveness of your studying, you must learn how to keep good notes. This has been the formula for success of many students.