Idea — Give content feedback first — validate the communicative act — before correcting language. This tells learners the message matters, not only the form. Example — After a learner explains a plan: “Your three…
Idea — While learners do a speaking task, the teacher’s job is to listen, note language, and not interrupt — unless a learner is completely stuck. Facilitate, do not teach. Example — Move quietly around…
Idea — In open discussion, confident speakers dominate and quieter learners produce nothing. Structured turns, written preparation, and talking tokens level the participation. Example — “Discuss” with six learners = two speak, four wait. “Each…
Idea — Role play fails when learners do not understand the situation, lack the language for it, or care too much about accuracy to speak at all. Fix the scenario card, not the activity. Example…
Idea — An information gap is the simplest communicative speaking task: student A holds information that B needs, and vice versa. Speaking happens because it must. Example — Student A has a train timetable with…
Idea — Controlled practice constrains form (fill the gap, substitute one word). Free practice gives full communicative choice. Jumping straight from a drill to a role play leaves the gap too large. Example — Controlled:…
Idea — Drilling fixes the sound and rhythm of new language in muscle memory. Use it after presentation, before freer practice — never as a lesson in itself. Example — Choral drill → individual drill…
Idea — Accuracy activities focus on correct form; fluency activities build speed and confidence. Every speaking task sits on a spectrum. Name your aim before you design the task. Example — Drilling “I used to…
Idea — Learners talk all day. Speaking tasks give them specific language to practise in a communicative context. A task without a communicative goal is a drill, not a speaking activity. Example — “Discuss your…
Idea — Month 6 covered listening (top-down vs bottom-up, staging, connected speech) and reading (skimming, scanning, grading texts, pre-teaching vocabulary). The thread: input must be comprehensible, purposeful, and staged. Example — Listening: lead-in → gist…