Assignments:

1. Read each of the four attached articles on teaching listening and speaking.
2. Visit this web link about developing oral skills: http://eslarticle.com/pub/teaching/young-
learners/6255-developing-oral-skills-in-young-learners.html
3. You chose your six groups last week. Now you need to decide on the theme of the unit you will
create together. You need to be actively working in Group Project Planning. This is located in the
menu to the left. (ALL of your planning needs to take place in Group Project Planning.)
4. Go to Week 4 Discussion: Theory. Respond to at least one of the prompts on Teaching Listening
and Speaking Skills. Be sure to reference the reading(s) in this post. Post once by Thursday, 11:59
(PST). Then post again between Friday, 12:01 AM, and Monday 11:59 PM (PST).
5. Go to Week 4 Discussion: Action. Complete the Action Activity. Post once by Thursday, 11:59
(PST). Then post again between Friday, 12:01 AM, and Monday 11:59 PM (PST).
Remember that your Final Project lessons should show evidence of the themes, activities or ideas we
have discussed in this class.
Think of these activities as possible ideas to include in your project.


Chose ONE: (This is not a group assignment.)
Look at the Lorenzutti article, "Beyond Gap Fill," and the song, "Home on the Range." Re-
create an activity for learners to practice the vocab that does NOT include gap-fill. (Find the
complete lyrics below.)
OR
Share an activity you use to specifically target oral skills and spontaneous speech. (Not
memorized dialogs!)


Words to "Home on the Range"
Oh give me a home,
where the buffalo roam,
where the deer and the antelope play,
where seldom is heard,
a discouraging word,
and the skies are not cloudy all day.
You must post once by Thursday, 11:59 PM (PST), and again between Friday, 12:01 AM, and
Monday, 11:59 PM (PST).
One of these posts must be a response with substantial feedback to a colleague's post.
You will earn up to 10 points for this thread: 5 for your initial response and 5 for your substantial
feedback to at least one of your colleagues.
Answer ONE (or more) of the following questions based on the two articles: Using favorite songs and
poems with young learners (Linse) and Teaching listening skills to young learners through 'listen and
do' songs (Sevik). Remember to use good discussion netiquette by putting your question topic and/or
classmate's name in the subject line.
Beyond Gap Fill- How have you led your students beyond the Gap Fill activity? Share a specific
example if you have one.
Stories, Songs, and Rhymes- Describe your technique(s) for using stories, songs, and rhymes in your
classroom. Which ones have your learners found most exciting? Are there any that your learners beg
to sing or recite over and over?
Beyond Singing- Mustafa Sevik explains that "...the most effective way to teach listening
comprehension, pronunciation and dictation..." is with songs. Have you had this level of success in
teaching with songs? Give us an example please.
Listening Games- We have covered the use of TPR now in a variety of settings. Which Total Physical
Response activities and/or other games for listening (like Simon says...) have you used with your
learners? Describe in detail one game that your learners found motivating.
*************
Lorenzutti, N. (2014). Beyond the gap fill: dynamic activities for song in the EFl classroom. English
Teaching Forum, 52(1), 14-21.g
Sevik, M. (2012). Teaching listening skills to young learners through 'listen and do' songs. English
Teaching Forum, 50(3), 10-17. Retrieved from http://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/english-
teaching-forum-2012-volume-50-number-3

You must post once by Thursday, 11:59 PM (PST), and again between Friday, 12:01 AM, and
Monday, 11:59 PM (PST).
One of these posts must be a response with substantial feedback to a colleague's post.
You will earn up to 10 points for this thread: 5 for your initial response and 5 for your substantial
feedback to at least one of your colleagues.

Developing oral skills in young
learners
by Carmen Gloria Garrido Barra
Oct 10, 2010 Young Learners 2606 Views

DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILLS IN YOUNG LEARNERS
We all know how much children enjoy singing songs and saying chants and rhymes.Many
teachers take advantage of this and use lively songs, chants and rhymes in their English lessons
where children have fun while they use the target language. These activities are great resources
to teach English to young learners provided they have a clear purpose and are part of a
structured lesson plan which ends with free speaking activities.
The final goal of teaching oral skills to children should be to enable them to interact in real life
situations in the target language. Many times, however, learners spend too much time doing
controlled practice activities. Controlled practice activities are activities in which learners can only
use the language they have been taught and repeat fixed phrases. These are a very limited kind
of speaking because they just focus on accuracy in speaking and not on communication. (Spratt,
M. et al, 2005, p.35). Many students start learning English in kindergarten, and we can see proud
parents asking their kids to sing and say rhymes in English. They repeat these songs and rhymes
year after year but do not seem to progress. Probably, this is because they are not asked to move
from controlled practice activities to freer interaction situations.
Children will obviously need time to learn the new language before they can use it. Language
has to go in before it can come out( Scott & Ytreberg, 1990, 34).Therefore, the first step in the
lesson plan should be an introduction to the topic and activities focusing on the new language.
Most teachers working wih young learners teach parts of the body and a lot of children know the
song Head and shoulders, knees and toes. This song can be a nice way of introducing parts of
the body. The teacher can use the song to teach the vocabulary by miming and check the correct
pronunciation of the new vocabulary. In the following activity, the teacher can use TPR to practice
the vocabulary of the song and to introduce new vocabulary. The teacher can give commands
faster and faster as students feel more confident. In this way, the teacher introduces the topic and
new vocabulary in a fun way.
After the lead in, students are asked to use the new language in controlled practice activities.
Controlled practice activities provide the basis for oral work, but do not always produce real
language at once( Scott, W.A. & Ytreberg, L.H.,1990, 38). Games can be used as controlled
practice activities. We must remember, one important part of language development is
vocabulary development, and fun vocabulary activities can be used to develop a positive affect in
the young learner English language classroom ( Schindler, 2006,p.8). In the next activity to teach
parts of the body, children can play bingo with different parts of the body. Children can have
written words, so they can identify the word with the pronunciation. In the next activity, students
working as a whole class could be asked to describe a picture. The teacher helps by writing these
expressions on the board: He/she has got a /He she has got (s). His/her /s is are
The teacher can first check pronunciation of the sentences and then ask students to describe a
big picture orally. Students are using fixed expressions but they can find meaning in the language
they are using.
The next step is guided practice. Guided practice usually gives the pupils some sort of choice ,
but the choice of language is limited ( Scott, W.A. & Ytreberg, L.H.,1990, 38). To continue with
parts of the body, the teacher divides the class into two groups. One group facing the back of the
classroom and one group facing the front of the room. Each group sees a different picture. Again,
the teacher gives the expressions: He/she has got a ; /He she has got (s); His/her /s is are
Each student should describe his/her poster and his/her partner should draw it on a piece of
paper. Then the teacher takes both posters and students check their drawings. Finally, the
teacher practices stress patterns. This type of activity is closer to real life communication because
students are sharing information.
The last step is free activities. In this step children say what they want to say(Scott, W.A. &
Ytreberg, L.H.,1990, 42). Following the previous activity, students are told both have pictures.
The pictures are very similar but there are four, five, six, etc. differences between them. They
have to find out the differences by describing their pictures. This time, students are asked to work
on their own using the vocabulary and expressions they have learned. When students have
finished, the teacher asks students to tell the differences. To help children, the teacher can write
on the board: In picture A, he/she has got., in picture B, he/she has gotIn this last activity,
students use fixed expressions in combination with different words to create new sentences and
to convey real messages.
In conclusion, using songs, chants, rhymes and fixed expressions with young learners are useful
ways of starting the process of developing oral skills. The important point is to move on from
controlled practice to freer activities where children can use the language in situations which
resemble real life oral communication.
References:
Scott, W.A. & Ytreberg, L.H. (1990.) Teaching English to children (Chapter 4). New York:
Longman.
Schindler, A.(2006).Channeling children's energy through vocabulary exercises.English Teaching
Forum, 44(2), 8-12.
Spratt, M. et al. (2005). The TKT teaching knowledge test course. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Article source: http://eslarticle.com/pub/teaching/young-learners/6255-developing-oral-skills-in-
young-learners.html