How to teach English - Teaching Spoken and Oral Skills besides Written
70Learning English
Teaching English
When I first began teaching Spoken English I had no clue what I was doing. I was unaware of the
differences between written and oral skills. I learnt on the job and
I learnt fast.
Essentially there
are Four Language Skills that one needs to master to learn a language.
These are
Listening,
Speaking,
Reading and
Writing
Notice that's the order in which a baby learns a language too.
The baby in India is usually bombarded with at least two different
languages before he can understand a word at home. The regional language or mother tongue is one and Hindi is the other. In
urban areas there are babies who learn English at
home besides these two other languages.
However the majority are usually fluent in their Mother Tongue alone.As for Hindi and English that is learnt in school.
When you teach English in school to these children all the langauage skills get used. Language Skills
come into play in this order
Writing,
Reading,
Listening and
Speaking.
The teachers
are more interested in getting the child to write answers correctly for the exams and
after the priliminary classes when orals are no longer part of the
exams one hardly gets to practice speaking the language.
This
leads to a large population who has learnt English in school but has little confidence to speak the language. That's
where Spoken English classes come in to their rescue. What is done is to make
them speak as much as they can in English. This is done using various
techniques such as impromptu discussions, prepared speeches and
presentations, dialogues between people,and many more exercises. This improves their
confidence levels and Spoken English.
Learn English Online
- Robby's English Harmony Course
Learn to speak the English language with the help of this video course. - Online Spoken English Teacher
How to Improve Spoken English? Is that the problem playing on your mind? Then you have a solution waiting for you online. Find your online Spoken English teacher
Some Resources for Teaching English
- Tips to Improve Your Spoken English
A few practical things to do to improve your spoken English. - About Life by Cashmere Lashkari: Reading : a Hobby
How reading as a hobby can really improve your language skills.
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CommentsLoading...
It is how its taught in school, but those training to work in BPOs tend to be trained in Amercian English.
Oh okay.
Yeah, I've worked for a BPO before and they don't stop with teaching just the language - they also teach intonation, diction, and twang. And oh the spelling too (ie colour v color). Thanks for sharing :D
My pleasure Cris
"Great written educational piece of literature!"
"Two thumbs up!"
CEO E.S.A.H.S. Association
very good info
Nice post. Informative and interesting.
Very interesting. Thanks.
I am a teacher in Pakistan and I find the problems here are the same as those in India. Students want to learn, but get no chance to use the language
Yes Sima, I suppose the problems are the same all over the Indian Sub Continent.
Hi , I started teaching English in Mexico and I see that most of my students write english well but when it comes to speaking to them and hearing audio or video they are lost . I tell them to continue to read and write well will help them hear and understand better , is this something you would agree or do you have any information I can use .
thank you
There is no substitute for actual practice. No matter what the language unless you keep constantly trying to improve your vocabulary you will not improve. And yes having someone to converse in the language with is a major bonus.
Even though Indian English is an accepted form of English, the BPO industry has made a massive change in the way most youngsters speak the language in the metro cities today, with a fake accent.They fail to distinguish between accent and use of correct sounds of the language. The magic of English is, it can be understood if only spoken clearly using the right sounds, keeping the grammar correct and the diction simple.I guess it will always be a challenge for the native speakers to understand Indians speaking in English because of either their Mother Tongue Influence or Regional Language Influence on English.I have been training people for the last 12 odd years in the BPO sector,where I have noticed the urge to learn "the accent" rather than the use of the language.I wonder why!
The general assumption is that if you sound like them they will understand you. They fail to realize that you need the vocabulary to back you up too!
i am going to teach as a spoken english teacher...tell me how can i do this
Practice is the key here gill. You need to make sure that each person in the class gets to speak. And to be supportive and caring rather than critical when they make mistakes.
That's so true :))) love your hub :))
Thanks for stopping by Kommoon. I've been teaching English as a second language for a few years now, and each class manages to teach me something new.
How can we make the base strong of the weak candidates,Because some of the candidates are usually from rural areas and they are mostly habitual to speak their regional language.So which is the best way to teach them.
its good info for teachers
if anyone have knowledge about how to make easy english for rural student
reading and speaking the language regularly is the only way to learn it
plz give me ideas how to improve the communication skills of class-1 students through presentations!what sort of presentations can help them out,including the dialogue part
The best thing for class one level would be "Show and Tell". Have them pick any one thing from their home (toy, book, pet frog???) to share with their classmates.They have to describe it to them in English and answer and relevant questions that they are asked.
how to teach present and past tense in a very interesting way to rural citizen
Give them a story narration to do. Let each individual build up the story sentence by sentence. It will help them understand how to use the past tense.
For the present tense just let them enact roll play situations where they need to do tasks like buy stamps from the post office, or withdraw money from the bank teller.
Thanks cashmere for the nice post
Thank you for the analysis. Teaching any new language is never easy, specially when you are teaching a foreign language.
hi
im studying english literature in university.it is my first year.i found difficlties in oral skills i attend all the classes but i didnt have any results. (sorry for my bad english).moreover i found troubles in communication with teacher he crticize all the time waste time in talking with few students.class was not encouraging me to talk.
any advise please
regards
alyssar
Find some friends with whom you can practice your spoken english skills. If you have none who will help, take a class with a professional teacher.
thank you for your advise. i will try to do this.
I have found that the level of commitment by the students is the biggest factor in whether they can overcome the hump of their native-born language. There are so many resources that even an inexperienced, but fluent, teacher can teach language well. I share my teaching experience in Costa Rica in my article http://randy-m.hubpages.com/hub/Teaching-English-i
You are right, unless they want to learn there is little the teacher can do.
Cris A Level 2 Commenter 3 years ago
I have worked with several Indians before and I noticed that they speak British English (as opposed to American English). Is that how the English language is taught in India. Or does Indian history play a big role? Or both? Just curious. :D