My reflections on reading the textbook: Teaching Writing by Gail Tompkins and the Online Resource.

REFLECTIVE FINAL

My reflections on reading the textbook: Teaching Writing by Gail Tompkins and the Online Resource. How I have reacted on the various theoretical perspectives, concepts, instructional techniques and instructional materials. How I have related, evaluated, questioned, responded and reacted to these perspectives, concepts, techniques and materials as relevance to my experience expertise.

NAME OF STUDENT: VICTOR FRU ASONGWE

STUDENT NO. 200574994

COURSE: ED 6641- Teaching Writing in primary, elementary and Secondary schools

Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

A reflection of the various theoretical perspectives, concepts, instructional techniques and instructional materials I have experienced in teaching English Language, Literature, and French both to learners of English as first language and to learners of English as a second language. This also takes me into another experience of teaching French to second learners and first learners. What an exciting experience I have got over the years to share with my teachers, peers, friends and classmates. In the past three months I have been reading Gail E. Tompkins and sharing opinions online with my classmates and Dr. Glassman. In a collaborative atmosphere, I have learnt a lot and continue to think that each new atmosphere gives a new room for new knowledge and the need for continuous research. This makes me to think along with Karen M. Feathers, in her book Infotext (1993, Pippen Publishers) as he writes the following on the importance of reflective writing: “ Learning involves more than memorizing and repeating facts. It involves relating information to what is already known, as well as evaluating, questioning, comparing it to other information, responding and reacting. Providing students with strategies for organizing information is one way to help deepen their understanding. Encouraging them to think critically about information is another – and reflective writing provides a useful tool for doing so.” (P.100). As Dr. Feathers goes on to expand this idea of reflective writing, I feel that in my presentation I will demonstrate my experiences as a teacher, what I have discussed online and my new perspectives and how I am presently teaching my students and those I intend to teach in the future. By reading, writing and discussing online with colleagues and Dr., Glassman, I feel a fresh man ready to influence and change several minds in my future teaching. In the following paragraphs I am going to show how the different ideas I have learnt have influenced my teaching or differ and what techniques and materials in the text (e.g. utilizing literature focus units and learning logs in content area subjects) do I feel are compatible with my personal teaching style.

I have taught English reading, writing, listening and speaking to students of all grades, from kindergarten to University. Poetry is another area where I have equally exploited creativity in students. Literature in short is a good subject that students enact stories and can write down, using the tools of writing demonstrated or taught by the teacher in class. I have used quite a combination of teaching strategies and tools in enhancing this knowledge to my students in the different grades. Beginning with the alphabet, which is just twenty-six letters, can be a very good game and eye opener to many students learning English. It is so exciting to students learning English as a second Language to notice that ‘apple’ or ‘banana’, ‘man’, ‘boy’ can form words or joining vowels and consonants can make meaning .I often play puzzle game with my students to show them how to form words from a few letters of the alphabet. It is so interesting when they hear just nine letters or twelve letters of the alphabet can give many words. Through this experience they begin learning how to write it does become a surprise to them when they come to know that just twenty-six letters of the alphabet can write encyclopedias. As compared to Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, it continues to be a surprise to me when people use strokes to write. I speak Chinese but I have barely crammed how to read and write down a few words in Chinese character because of time space. The Chinese language has no formula to learn the strokes as we learn and teach students how to write words using the alphabet. Having taught elementary Chinese students and having noticed the challenges of teaching a new language to students whose original language has no relationship with English, I feel it is my duty to use special tools to focus thoughts and opinions that are essential concepts to consider when teaching these young readers and writers. Having introduced word games and vocabulary in reading, I try to make them to read and write directions, interests, about their hobbies, short poems, personal experiences, field trips, families posters, posters, pictures write questions and answers. As a strategy we may sit together and discuss and I then give them room to write. Usually when the students are made to write their own personal experiences they have much to say. Writing is a special creativity that warrants one to think a lot before putting ideas down and the students need to be orientated with different writing techniques to follow this up. Good writing requires prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing. Since I teach students of different levels, I always consider these facts and approach the children differently. It is not an easy task to follow the kids step by step to be what we are today but we must continue to strive in collaboration and new teaching methods. “ The need to communicate with others must be present for literacy to occur”, (Brown 1990). Talking or writing about weather can be an important topic to dwell on with the students. Just like in Tompkins, page 4, I equally teach my students to write about the weather. “Mrs. Reeve’s multiage primary class is learning about weather, and they use writing as a tool for learning. They begin the unit by making a K-W-L chart (Ogle, 1986) Mrs. Reeves divides the chart into three columns “ K: What we know”, “W: What we wonder” and “L: What we learned.” Children begin by brainstorming things they already know about weather and Mrs. Reeves writes them in the k column. The list includes “ weather is different in summer and winter, “ Lightening is very dangerous,” “You tell the temperature on a thermometer,” and “ snow is frozen rain.” Then a child asks, “How does it rain?” and Mrs. Reeves writes the question in the W column. Others question about tornadoes and different types of clouds are asked, and she adds them to W column .The discussion continues and other information and questions are added to K and W columns. During the unit, children continue to add questions to the W column, and as they learn more about weather, they write what they are learning in the L column to complete the chart. The children may want to keep daily weather calendars. Mrs. Reeves talks with them about the kinds of activities they might pursue during the unit. The children may want to interview a television weather forecaster, do weather experiments and write an ABC book about weather as they did plants earlier in the school year. Writing will be an important tool in these activities. Mrs. Reeves uses the children’s ideas together with the standards specified by her school district to plan the unit. In brainstorming the lesson Mrs. Reeves prepares a large pocket chart for the “word wall”; children will write interesting and unfamiliar words about weather on cards and display them on the word wall during the unit. They refer to words including tornado, thermometer, hurricane, freezing and thunderstorm. Children in guided writing may also chose individual projects to do that relate with weather. Their projects included

- Drawing weather maps

- Painting mural about weather

- Making weather safety posters

- Performing a skit about weather forecasting

- Constructing weather instruments

- Retelling a favorite weather story such as Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

- Making a weather can (a coffee can be decorated with a picture and filled with five facts about a particular type of weather, such as tornadoes)

- Writing a weather book.

In fact this demonstration of Mrs. Reeves teaching technique in writing is very good as most of the elementary students are interested in fun and searching for words to talk about weather. I have often related other topics in my teaching like she does. It is quite captivating but as we handle very large classes and have much to cover in the syllabus for children’s tests and end of year tests we hurry up and may not deepen our real efforts in making the students think as they are really supposed to do. However it is a good way to make the children to start the process of writing by discovering new words and playing with them, writing and putting on the wall, making their friends get familiar with them. “ Classroom teachers as well as writing researchers have discovered that even young children communicate through writing, and that they begin writing as they are learning to read or even before they read” (Graves, 1983, 1994). During the elementary grades writing serves three purposes:

1. Children learn to write. Through experiences with writing, children learn how to write. Informal writing activities such as clustering and quick writing, provide opportunities for children to acquire writing fluency

2. Children learn about written language. As children learn to write, they discover the uniqueness of written language and the ways in which it differs from oral language and drawing. In addition, children learn about the mechanics of writing, including standard spelling and usage, capitalization, and formatting.

3. Children learn through writing. Writing is a valuable learning tool that has many applications across the curriculum. Children write informally to analyze and synthesize their learning, and they write formally and apply their knowledge when they write books and reports. (Halliday, 1980)

Mrs. Reeves’ second and third graders exemplified all three components as they used writing during their unit on weather. They learned to write by writing and practiced the writing process as they drafted, revised and edited class books and individual projects. The students learned about written language as they revised and edited their writing when it was to be published. They also used writing as a tool for learning about weather through both informal writing and more formal writing projects.

Frank Smith (1988) reflected, “ the first time I explored in detail how children learn to write, I was tempted to conclude that it was, like the flight of bumblebees, a theoretical impossibility” (p. 17). The writing samples in the Vignette about Mrs. Reeve’s students show that as bumblebees really do fly, elementary students do write even do it may seem improbable that children who are becoming literate can be fluent and expressive writers.

I equally remember having requested my form five students to write a summary of their lives in Sacred Heart College Douala. In all they had started as infants and had spent five good years together in the dormitory. They had a lot of experiences to share. This was to serve as part of their test and it was also to be published in the school magazine for all their parents to read. In fact some students first hesitated to do this but as they saw that I was very serious about it every body started writing. It was a free topic and many of them had much to say. Many started by writing their hobbies, places of birth, Nationality, when they were born and their experiences. Many of them wrote drafts, proofread, edited and then gave to me to mark. I gave them to exchange their readings make necessary corrections before giving me for the final typing and publishing. When students are aware that their friends, parents and other members of public will see their work, they decide to be more serious. I n short I initiated an idea that has remained over the years. Each year to students are graduating now they always have stories to tell about themselves and the school administration and this will always be published in the school magazine. This enables the students to start their writing process as early as form one as I initiate them into the Press club and teach them how to write poems, read aloud, write the news and present and also write Bible verses and read at the assembly ground every morning. This happens with everyone, as there is a roster for all. The introduction of Commonwealth Essay competition in 1999 also gave a boom in the writing strategy of the school .As Head of the Language department, I encouraged everyone to write and all the teachers were responsible to see the creative abilities of the students and then report to me. I t was a general initiative but when the other teachers could not collaborate well, I took it as a duty with all the language department teachers. Because of this practice most of my students have always scored about 90% in their scores in English Language, French Language and Literature. The overall results in National exams always range around a hundred percent. I received a prize from the Bishop for having worked hard with my students. This is a serious collaboration in teaching and learning. As the students equally receive prizes and certificates from the Commonwealth Royal Society, they are always motivated to continue with annual writing competitions.

The writing process is a way of looking at writing instruction in which emphasis is shifted from students’ finished products to what students think and do as they write. James Britton and Janet Emig were two of the first researchers to examine students’ writing processes. In her study, Emig (1971) interviewed 12^th graders as they wrote, and studied the writing processes that one teenager used in depth. Several years later, Britton and his colleagues (1975) examined 2000 essays written by British high school students and found that students’ writing processes differed according to the type of writing. Donald Graves (1975) described a similar process of prewriting, composing and prewriting as he examined young children’s writing and documented that 7 year- olds, like high school students, used a variety of strategies as they wrote. Usually topics are supplied to students to write. Donald Graves (1976) calls this traditional approach of supplying topics for students “ writing welfare” Instead, children need to take responsibility for choosing their topics for writing.

In my teaching of writing, I usually give more than five topics for students to choose one. My form four and five students choose topics from the different kinds of essays: narrative, argumentative, expository and Descriptive. In these different models we have either through group discussions or from reading discussed what each essay type stands for. They know that in narrative essays they have to use past experiences and talk about events using the past tense. In the case of an argumentatative essay topics we brainstorm topics in class or I ask students to say some topics common to their lives. The environment may also give rise to an immediate topic. For instance in China where there are so many people we are used to common topics like “ Is the one child policy a good policy taken by the government?” From this topic students say much about what they hate about the policy and some say what they like about the policy. Students require frequent and regular times to write in order to learn and write well. “ Children should talk about topics that interest them like hobbies, classmates’ lives family and past experiences” Tompkins, (2004,p.49). We teachers must encourage in proposing topics if they cannot think them immediately. They now implement the strategies of writing: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing after knowing which topic to handle. As children prepare to write, they need to identify their purpose for writing. Are they writing to entertain? to inform? to persuade? . This decision about purpose influences other decisions they make about audience and form. M. A.Halliday (1973, 1975) has identified seven language functions that apply both to oral and written language:

1. Instrumental language. Language to satisfy needs, such as in business letters.

2. Regulatory language. Language to control the behavior of others, such as in directions and rules.

3. Inter actional language. Language to establish and maintain social relationships, such as in pen pal letters and dialogue journals.

4. Personal Language. Language to express personal opinions, such as in learning logs and letters to the editor.

5. Imaginative language. Language to express imagination and creativity such as in stories, poems and scripts.

6. Heuristic language. Language to seek information and to find out about things, such as in learning logs and interviews.

7. Informative Language. Language to convey information, such as in reports and biographies.

In each particular writing as I have read from Tompkins, I have equally directed my students to consider purpose, audience and form when writing an article or any piece of writing. Sometimes I do not need to bother the second language learners much with genre. As Gibbons puts it, “some second language, however, are not familiar with genres and they benefit from explicit instruction so that they can “succeed in school and actively participate in their dominant community” (Gibbons 2002, p. 60).

Normally after a piece of writing, I grade the students accordingly. The students are aware of the fact that I will grade them according to content, accuracy and expression. I have taken time to explain to them that Content means the ideas or points you put into the essay, expression stands for direct flow of material. The style and choice of words a student uses and accuracy will be looking into spelling problems and punctuation issues. This puts into the minds of my form four and five students that they need to take note of particular types of careless errors. I make them aware of the rubrics. “Rubrics are scoring guides that teachers can use to assess students’ achievement on particular writing assignments,”(Tompkins, 2004, p. 172) When students participate in making the rubric, they become more aware of the characteristics of good writing and they understand the assignment better. (Tompkins 2004, p.175) Also encouraging students by giving them feedback or good comments after a piece of writing is a good tool in writing. “ An individual’s cognitive growth in their writing abilities should be seen as a continuum,” (Glassman, 2007).It is critical for a teacher to realize that constantly providing justified praise for efforts made by each of their students will help each student to strive to reach their personal potential.(Glassman 2007)

“ Teachers have the responsibility to teach students how to write, and part of that responsibility is teaching the students the skills that capable writers use” (Tompkins, 2004,p.103). We need to create an atmosphere where authentic and meaningful conversational exchanges are encouraged; where the “real” voice of a learner expresses what they are thinking and feeling” (Glassman, 2007)

In teaching writing, I always discuss and ask questions that relate with the students’ senses. Questions that can quickly make them reflect and write. Summary writing is one of the ways in which I equally use. Like I mentioned before that they might write summaries in journals, letters through the school year, school magazines, and personal connections to background experiences and world knowledge connections. There is also the need to make students to reread the work they have written. I always allow my students to do this to see if it can make meaning to them and to others. “ Language to be used effectively, must be meaningful for both the “sender” and “receiver” of communication (Glassman, 2007).

Strategies are cognitive tools are cognitive tools that students can use flexibly and selectively. These thinking tools are essential in order for students to transform into independent writers.

“The purpose of instruction is to enhance students’ awareness of strategic writing, so that they can plan, evaluate, and regulate their own thinking” (Tompkins, 2004, p. 98) It is just like I have regulated many things in my teaching as I read online discussions and get new opinions about writing from Dr. Glassman and colleagues. When the Dr. Glassman appreciates me or encourages me on a point I am very happy. I feel that this goes along way; the same feeling our students feel when their teachers talk to them or mark their papers and comment positively to them. Assessing students’ writing is a critical aspect in helping them become effective writers. “ No matter what type of assessment measure is used, assessment is to help children improve as writers and feel successful,”(Tompkins, 2004, p.168). One of the ways I assess my students is through formative assessment. Formative assessment is good because it reveals the quality of the teaching and learning by the students,( Glassman , 2007) It provides opportunities for students to reflect on their writing in a more relaxed state of mind.

Portfolio assessment is another measuring tool that I use. “ A writing portfolio is a collection of samples of work from different phases of a students’ learning process,” (Glassman, 2007) this is one way to approach on- going assessment through the school year. Portfolio assessment is a valuable tool that represents students’ achievements. It requires reflection. “Indeed reflection is part of the writing process itself,” (Tompkins, 2004, p. 152)

Observing students is one of the methods I implement in reading and writing. In fact I have used this method with a lot of success in teaching my university students in China since communication is more difficult to them than writing. In observing them, I notice their successes and weaknesses especially as they speak and write. In speaking most of them just translate from Chinese to English in which many grammatical errors are made. They may omit prepositions and articles because they are lacking in Chinese. Having observed these difficulties because of the influence of the first language I also take time to instruct them on how to encounter these difficulties. “One of the richest sources of information is observing students as they read and write,” (Tompkins 2004, p.154 Observing students’ weaknesses can help a teacher to quickly solve some problem areas especially in reading and writing. As Glassman states, “ All children need to be challenged, in a positive manner, if they are able to achieve all they are capable of attaining”.

In fact there are several theoretical perspectives presented in the text that I feel are personally relevant at this point in my career. As I have read through the text in several areas, I felt I was the one working with the students, especially in some of the examples presented by Mrs. Reeves in her teaching and discussion about “weather” at the beginning of this article. There are equally several concepts, which have been presented in the text (e.g. Writing is a valuable learning tool) that I feel is very important in my career. However, those who have never been to school can still manage life without knowing how to read and write. In the eyes of the present world it is worth important to know how to read and write because one may face a lot of difficulties not knowing how to read and write when faced with the computer world which is so full of technology which requires reading and writing. There are several techniques and materials presented in the text, which are very compatible with my personal teaching style. Environment may influence a teaching technique but this remains stated that there are several methods of teaching students the same thing .The way students may be taught writing or reading in the city using audio – visual aids may not be the same way in a typical village school. This makes a difference. Equally, teaching in Web CT is quite different from those attending the course on campus. One who has not got adequate technologies may not be able to read or write online.

Computers have come to change the phase of handwriting, as many students decide to answer their questions directly by typing to their teachers instead of showing their natural craftsmanship. In the past we used to be told that the best form of writing a business letter or an application is by using one’s personal handwriting. Today many things have changed. Like spelling, handwriting is a functional tool for writers. Donald Graves (1983) explains: “ children win prizes for fine script, parents and teachers nod approval for a crisp, well crafted- page, a good impression is made on a job application blank… all important elements, but they pale next to the substance they carry”(p.171). We are following the direction of the wind. However, I feel science and technology are making things more easy for us especially in the teaching of reading and writing. Teaching tools have changed from simple classroom, pen, pencil, textbook, and teacher to computer, Internet, microphone and photocopy machine to name just a few. It because of these technologies that I also think we are succeeding, as we are able to add our knowledge in reading some of our courses through Distance Education.

References

- Teaching Writing, Balancing process and product. Gail E. Tompkins. Fourth Edition. (2004)

- Online Discussion (2007)

- Glassman (2007)

- Internet readings

Much gratitude to my teacher, Dr. Glassman and my wife and son who supported me relentlessly in realizing this project.

How can teachers get ESL students talk in classroom

PROJECT

How can teachers get ESL students to talk during classes? (Shifting away from the traditional teachers’ centered approach to learners’ centered approach) and also developing curriculum resources and lesson plans favoring this approach




A Paper submitted to Dr. Elizabeth Yeoman



Victor Fru Asongwe
200574994




In fulfillment of the requirement of Education 6665
(Second Language Curriculum) for the degree of Master of Education
















Faculty of Education
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John’s
Newfoundland and Labrador
December 12, 2008









“Becoming a critically reflective teacher …involves the realization that as second language teachers, we are both the producers and the creators of our own history.”
__ L Bartlett (1990:206)










































Project: How can teachers get ESL students to talk during classes? (Shifting away from the traditional teachers’ centered approach to learners’ centered approach), and also developing curriculum resources and lesson plans favoring this approach

Introduction

In this project I will be exploring through action research. Having taught English and Literature as first language and French as a second language for about twelve years, I had to enter graduate school to further learn about teaching. With much assistance from my professors and supervisors, I feel I have a wealth of new experiences among which is the new experience of teaching ESL. The original experience I had about teaching was different from what I know today. When I attended seminars, conferences, collaborated with colleagues, read internet websites that dealt with ESL, had talks with my teachers and class mates during my graduate studies, I became a fresh person and ready to work with everyone learner. As a novice teacher, I acted just like “Jamie” in “Engaging Minds”, (Chp.9, p 157-173, Teaching Frames).
Jamie represents nearly all novice teachers in the world and this explains some of the challenges we face when we are about to start this wonderful profession, not to mention about class management, learners’ interacting with teachers and the rest of the bulk of work that the teacher has to do. It is reasonable to expect a large assortment of words that describe teaching in terms of the actions by which a learner is taught. For example, at a typical conference on educational research, you can expect to hear most of the following in reference to what different people imagine should ( or, in some cases, should not ) be happening in the classroom: conditioning, disciplining, educating, empowering, facilitating, guiding, indoctrinating, instructing, leading, lecturing, mentoring, modeling, nurturing, and training.
In other words the above terminologies only empower the teacher and almost give no opportunity for the student to share or really participate in the classroom. I think that if teaching and learning is shaped towards sharing, students will understand better and they will give examples that reflect their own lives and this will enhance understanding in the subject matter. Students who are open feel that opportunities are not given to them to express themselves and those who are shy feel comfortable with their situation. In a language class for example, teachers can make the students participate in ideas and even in shaping the curriculum. What is it that students need most? Their participation in class discussions can also raise an educational question that will help researchers and authors write books with the learners in mind. When learners see themselves contributing in the class and in the making up the books, this enhances understanding and confidence. The teachers are those to empower the learners with different strategies to talk in the classroom. How should we go about this? The purpose of my research thus is to develop learners to speak in the class.

I observed one of my colleague’s English classes and it was almost like a lecture. When he finished teaching he seemed so tired and he told me he has another class and that he teaches many hours a day. Before I left, he asked me, to give my impression about the class. I told him “You could try other alternatives or you could change the source of solicits from yourself to the students by making them contribute their ideas in the class, and instead of reading all the passages alone, they could also read and sometimes you discuss together, because working alone makes one feel tired especially as you have many hours of work” “They could also write down questions and ask you and each other”, “You could react to student responses by being silent to see if other students react verbally.” I was calling his attention towards class interaction. After observing the situation over and over in ESL classes taught by novice and some teachers who claim it is their custom for students to always listen because they owe respect to their teachers and leaders, I decided to carry out my research so that some action is taken. However, when I invited one of my Chinese teachers to observe my class, his feedback was that
“Your class is so exciting, your voice is so loud, and you move round the class, you are so patient, you have a lot of gestures and you call on students’ names to answer questions.” Since some of the teachers are used to teacher – centered approaches, they hardly give descriptions because they believe that by telling the students what to do and by the students listening without interaction they are respecting the tradition, as one of the teachers told me when we were discussing in a meeting. Many teachers who have not read “Language Teaching Awareness” and have not had refresher courses may not be so used to ‘non judgmental descriptions and will always give judgment when once they observe a class. I was not asking for any praises.
As we may have experienced, teachers who discuss with students in class and give them more opportunities to talk, also learn a lot from the learners especially if the teacher is teaching multicultural students. Many of the students can enlighten us on what we did not know. From there we could also shape the curriculum. It is in this perspective that I have decided to take on action research as part of my classroom practice. I believe that action research increases our understanding of classroom teaching and learning as it allows for a systematic investigation of our own classroom and students and gives us the power to make more informed decisions through observation and reflection on our teaching( Fanselow 1987, 1988; Gebhard 1991, 1996; Kemmis & Mc Taggard 1982; Nunan 1995; Richards & Lockhard 1994; Strickland ) Good and Brophy ( 1997) also indicate that action research provides an opportunity for teachers to discuss ideas, reflect on teaching, and extend their knowledge of alternative practices.

In trying to promote students’ interaction in the class or shifting from teachers’ centered approach to learners’ centered approach, I will also be developing lesson plans and resources suitable for class interaction. This includes posing problems and addressing concerns based on what goes on in our classroom, systematically working through the problems and initiating a plan of action and reflecting on the degree to which the plan works. In addition, as Crookes (1993) demonstrates, action research can take us beyond the confines of the teacher’s classroom. When we discover that we share similar problems, for example, a large number of students across the program cutting classes, complaining about the curriculum and not doing homework, and that these problems cannot be solved easily, with the walls of the classroom, it becomes an institutional or school problem, one that requires collaboration among teachers, students, and the administration. This is exactly some of the issues I wish to address. Through class exploration, and research, many students have been unable to speak English in the classrooms despite the number of years they count that they have been learning the language. Several reasons account for this; prescribed teaching or teacher centered approach, lack of seriousness from students, less interaction in class, learners only listen and practice less. My research is to address these issues and try to find out solutions on how students can talk more in class in order to practice their English and this can not be done without the efforts and awareness of the teacher who is at the center of the classroom.
I use Burn’s example (1997- on Action research “problem solving” which helped lead a national action research project in Australia. Burns reports on the action research experiences of one of these teachers. The teacher taught very diverse groups of students in her adult migrant English service classes. She was uncertain how to manage the class and felt that her planning was “hit and miss.” Therefore, she read the literature of managing disparate learning groups and talked to teachers who had experienced teaching such students. As a result, she decided to develop materials and create activities to the different levels and then to observe how students responded to them. After doing this she recognized the students needed freedom to interact with her materials in their own way that they seemed to get more out of the materials when she relinquished control over how they were supposed to use materials in their learning.
After having difficulties in communicating with the students in my classroom, just like Burns, I decided to interview the students one by one, an interview which I decided to videotape. It is after carrying out the research with the students who proved shy, less interactive in class that I decided to call a conference to discuss the issue with my colleagues and school leaders. As I observed before, my students were unable to answer questions in the classroom, unable to speak with their friends, not even doing assignments, not willing to write notes or new expressions. All they could do was to listen to the teacher speak, some distracted in such a way that they used to solve mathematics or read Chinese novels in the class or simply ask teachers to play a movie.


The context of the project

The action research project I report on took place in four of my ESL classes in the university where I teach, Henan Institute of Science and Technology. Never before had I taught ESL students whose major was not English. I taught English in foreign language schools during summer and in kindergartens, although some students could not express themselves very well, the classes were still exciting. I had mostly taught English Major Students in teacher training programs. The four classes in my university where I decided to carry my project, most of the students specialized in Tourism and Hotel Management. Most of them seem not to have done English before or were from areas where English teachers could hardly reach. The students met every week for two hours. Each class had about 30 students. I had two other foreign teachers who assisted me. When we met I talked to the students and asked their majors. These students were admitted in the university because they wanted them to improve on their Oral English since China had joint as a member of global trade, World Trade Organization (WTO) and the country needed business partners to express in English so as to ease foreign customers coming into hotels, traveling and doing business. This program needed us the teachers to really help improve their day to day communication as to guarantee their search for jobs as soon as they graduate from college. Teachers were thus to interact with students to assist them in understanding western culture, telephone conversations, ethics, hotel management issues, Airport and train pick-ups issues and individual problems that could help students with specific learning goals. So I decided on looking for ways to encourage them talk and to make the class look interesting and lively.

The process of conducting the action research project

The process included posing a problem, seeking knowledge about this, planning an action, and revising the plan


POSING A PROBLEM

Just like Burns, I have been teaching ESL students at different levels and in each level I meet they have their own problems. The problem may arise from a combination of factors, a) no text books, b) no language environment, c) unwilling to learn a new language because there is no other hope for the student, d) cultural impact. These problems made the learners uncomfortable to talk in class. Many of the students were shy. I found out that in most of the classes I was almost talking alone. It was very necessary that I change this method into an interactive classroom that all the students will have a chance to talk. Most of the teachers were used to this teacher- centered approach where the students were always active listeners. Most of the students kept asking me everyday how they could improve their listening and speaking skills. I kept pondering on what to do. There were problems here and there;

A) It can sometimes be very difficult to teach ESL students without text books. Most often, the department head tells the teacher to teach the students interesting things. With the mad rush of teaching English in China, teachers are invited to bring in their own teaching materials and sometimes this may be very frustrating because novice teachers with no training come in and teach what ever comes in their mind until they are exhausted with their materials. As new as some teachers are, if there is no collaboration, it may really lead the learners to no way. Also, most of the schools which invite teachers are excited with the teaching of English and may just pick on any text book with out considering the levels of the learners and their different trades. Students for example doing Business or medicine are not trained to have any language to do with their contexts. So the school’s Language department needed curriculum designers to help shape textbooks or lesson plans according to the students’ trades or specializations that can make the students talk in the classrooms. So, there was the need for me to collaborate with the Head of Department and come up with some books that could also focus on their specializations and environment to help the students talk.
B) No language environment. Most of the students / pupils have not learnt English before and most of what some have had in their classrooms had to do with lone words or phrases which could not be constructed into sentences to make real sense. Discrepancies existed between teachers and students because of culture and inability of communicating. Most of the students were afraid to make mistakes. So there was the need for me to consult my colleagues to really see what was going on. In observing three of my Chinese colleagues’ classes, I found out that each short expression or word that was made in English was followed by Chinese translation or interpretation. The students did not reflect much in English and there was almost no class interaction. I just thought that may be it can be very difficult for the learners to speak when most of the time they are only listening and also feeling more comfortable with out tasks and writing. I started thinking of how to approach this issue. After reading from www.eslcafe.com, I got meaning suggestions and activities on the forum on how to deal with students that are not communicative in the class. After, familiarizing myself with some Chinese colleagues and my International officer who was very cooperative, I started discussing some of the difficulties I found in the students. Answering questions or talking in class was the most outstanding. I told them that I ask questions in class after an activity and nobody answers. Even after a movie show, students will laugh; none will ever raise the hand or answer the teacher’s questions. Even when I divide them into groups they will sit and only speak in Chinese. I asked my colleagues whether they experienced these kinds of difficulties too. I was informed about outdoor evening activities (English Corner). We organized seminars where we could meet to discuss some of our problems and also “English corners” where both teachers and students could meet around the college garden on weekly basis to express freely with their foreign teachers. Some of the students proposed things they will like the teacher to teach them in class. Some told me they would like to learn more about western culture. I developed topics about greetings, table manners, environmental care/hygiene, health- care, ways of traveling and the importance of traveling, the school environment, TV/ videos, Internet and computer technologies, love and marriage stories, how to manage telephone conversations in a business place, just to mention a few. I introduced an interesting debate topic and we discussed together and I requested them to develop topics of their choice and present in groups of four each. Some students brought up debate topics, others brought up sketches, role-plays and others decided to talk about the events that have taken place in China in the year 2008. I took these topics and we then drew a schedule on hoe to do the presentations. In each class of two hours two groups presented. In the first thirty minutes I will discuss with the students and later the groups will present their topics and could only be a facilitator.
C) Unwilling to learn the language because most of the students who are not English major feel English will take them no where. When I first asked them why they are not willing to put an effort in learning, they told me they are shy and they are afraid to make mistakes. One of my foreign colleagues told me that the manner in which most of the teachers’ correct errors was too discouraging for the students. You may find a teaching telling a student “You are wrong”, rather than saying “Give another alternative” Here I understood that approach or a teacher’s behavior in giving chance to students to answer a question may totally discourage a student in further attempting to answer a question. In actual fact most of the learners needed a lot of sensitization. In trying to talk to some about the importance of English as a world language and also advising many of the learners in kindergartens, language schools and universities where I have taught before, some of the students are now putting maximum effort to learn. But most students still indicate that they feel free in a foreign teachers’ language class than their Chinese English teachers’ classes. So I feel, may be more motivation and approaches are needed to be taught to the learners.
D) Cultural Impact. When I introduced some topics in my class, which have to do with religion, sex education, diseases, politics I found out that every student was totally quiet, even students I think they could try to say something about the topics, they remained silent. The bold student only told me “we are traditional people and we don’t talk about such things”. About religion and God, the students said “we believe in ourselves” When I was asked to teach Western culture, it was then that I could ask and really use a special motivating approach to have an interaction with my students. Since I also wrote a paper in one of my courses on HIV/ AIDS EDUCATION/ Towards Collaboration, I decided to have an advisory talk with my third year university students. I told them that as a foreigner teaching them, I feel they are my brothers and sisters and that it is my duty and responsibility to discuss with them so that they can prevent AIDS and also talk to other people about it since the province I am teaching in, is one with the highest number of HIV/AIDS patients in China. The class went on successfully since the talk and motivation reached a level where some of the students could ask questions. What I noticed was that some traditions prohibit most of the learners from questioning. Even the students testified that their Chinese teachers will never handle this kind of educational topic. Even my Chinese colleagues told me that they usually do not feel comfortable to teach these kinds of topics. This made me to understand that there was a problem of approach and cultural influence. It is from this perspective that I decided to carry out this research project. I have been in day to day discussions, discussing these issues with the teachers and administration. The Head of the International Exchange Department who studied in the United Kingdom and is aware of these problems facing the learners and teachers requested me to talk more often to them, when I have the opportunity. Gradually, both teachers and students are changing positively. There is improvement in manner of behavior and teaching styles now. More of my colleagues can come to me now when they are faced with certain problems in teaching. Students are opening up and getting nearer the teachers for their problems. They are no longer shy and most discuss with me more freely than ever because I made them to understand that I am learning Chinese and I am subject to making mistakes and it is like this with every leaner of a second Language. Most of them can choose their topics and discuss in class, except for those who might not want to choose which I may decide for them after inquiring why they have not done so yet
Since most of the students in the class were not responding to my questions, I made this the focus for my action project. I decided to carry on a project that will give the students opportunities to speak more and gain influence in English.

SEEKING KNOWLEDGE

As a teacher who has worked in an ESL class before, and knowing that most of the students are shy, I had to read and ask question in www.eslcafe.com/ teacher forums to enable me with answers how to go on with a static class that all the students were only listening(I wanted special speaking activities). I read many instructions from this forum and had different lesson plans and tasks that could help make my students talk with me. The teacher’s forum had so many games, videos online and songs that we could sing and talk about the meaning. I also traveled to another city and had an opportunity to go and observe a former colleague’s class who has been in China for long and was working with a language center where it was a must that the learners should communicate. I observed this class and was quite convinced that I could do something on my own students. The methods my senior colleague used for class interaction generated confidence in me to try them too. It had not been a usual habit for me to be calling names of students. I observed in one other colleagues class calling names, Chinese names, I had considered jaw- breaking to pronounce, but my colleague had given English names to all the students and they were sitting in a particular order. I also observed that calling them by names gave them more assurance and certainty with the teacher. He constantly called the students by name. I also understood that there were a lot of jokes and gestures in the class. The teacher used actions and body language to make the students understand many things and they responded to his questions. Some of the questions were evoking that some of the students could answer at random without name calls. All the teachers used the board for vocabulary and some expressions, what I had previously failed to do with the notion that I am teaching Oral or Conversational English. Some of the students could read and understand better than just understand orally, this I noted something new. After posing the problem, I had feed- back from my supervisor and colleagues who supplied me with many lesson plans and resources online which dealt with speaking activities that I could adapt for the learners. So I was convinced to try too.

PLANNING AN ACTION

Having carried out much research on speaking activities from colleagues and my supervisor, I was advised to enable another close colleague to watch my class or I should audiotape or videotape the sessions to refer back to the activities, the students’ performance and the amount of time they spend talking during each activity. I decided to videotape the session as this was going to be more practical and also to see the students’ behavior such as their willingness and interest. I thought it wise to first of all discuss an evoking topic with them and follow up with the video-tape to see their reaction whether I have been blocking them from interacting or they are really shy or it is a question that they lack the vocabulary and expression, or a cultural/ traditional problem. After this discussion which I noted was successful, I first of all decided to divide the whole class into groups of four each and at this time I requested the students to choose topics of interest and present in the form of debates, role plays, speeches. I emphasized that they should chose topics that would evoke discussions among us in the class. I had discussed about how to present speeches on stage, self- confidence, the importance of the voice, gestures, facial expression and had promised that the first three groups that performed well will receive a prize from me and the school. I videotaped some of the groups and made notes as some of them were presenting. Having had the opportunity to read Gebhard and Oprandy’s Language Teaching Awareness, I was able to draw many reflections from collaborative lessons and use many of these approaches in my project. In some of the topics presented, I could really see smiles, gestures on the students’ faces. As part of the activities, students watched movies and they were able to talk about a character they enjoyed in the movie and why. Others called their friends and asked a question about the movie they watched “suppose you were Troy, which of these will you choose, “Love or scholarship?” Some of the lazy students who did not find any topics, I gave them a variety of topics to choose one, discuss and present. The truth is that those students who chose their topics from heart were able to express and ask questions than the ones whom I imposed topics to do. Some of the students I imposed topics had not been coming to class; others were just negligent and opened their English books only during the class and will never write down anything, even vocabulary or assignments They came to class virtually with no note book. I observed classroom interaction and behavior of the students. How the students responded to the teacher’s and classmates’ questions. Then I developed more skills and resources on how students could talk in the classroom. The participants were second grade students in my university, doing Tourism and Management as their major. The rules of the game were that, when the students presented, they called others to answer their questions and members of the class could also ask questions.
When each group was presenting, I was writing down notes. I asked questions from each student basing on what they had presented. At one point I found out that most of the students were interested in asking questions and so I limited the number of questions I was asking and gave more time for the students to interact. I did so deliberately so as to encourage them speak, because when once they gain the confidence, they could now have courage at any time to cooperate in the class. Drilling them at first side was my target. Many of the students also made sure they asked me questions after their speech or presentation. I just made sure I jotted most of their errors. But some serious errors, I reacted immediately but in a polite manner, not to disturb communication fluency. I also requested the other students to be jotting errors so that we can correct them after. In order to make sure it was not completely memorization, I asked the speakers questions from their presentations and made sure I called them up the following week to revise their topic. Some did successfully. Some students could simply memorize the speeches and were unable to answer any question from the content of their speech the following week. However, that meant something to me and the students, because that was the beginning of interaction.

Apart from role-play, debates, presentations, other activities included, watching movies and giving impressions, listening and singing songs and talking about the meaning and vocabulary. Some students were involved in story telling (animal stories, trickster tales), News Broadcasting, TV/radio news, interview, comprehension passages, reproduction of a dialogue, especially of great people, cartoon stories, shopping, telephone etiquettes, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of computer and internet, drawing illustrated diagrams on the board and talking about. Another group of students saved beautiful pictures of four countries in a flash disc and presented to the class before describing and talking why they would like to live there. Another group talked about the events that happened in China in 2008( Bad weather killing people in winter, An earthquake in May, killing about 80.000 people, Olympic Games in Beijing bringing in millions of people and the Shenzhou 7 Space Ship travel . From some of the students’ presentations I really discovered that teachers are constantly blocking opportunities to learn from the students and also blocking them from learning how to communicate. From the way some of the students cooperated in the class, their ability to ask questions to their friends and also engage into dialogues, I understood that if more opportunities are given to them to practice their English, they will excel. We also made informal activities like creating Music clubs/ English Clubs, football and basket ball clubs where we could meet and discuss with each other.
One of the most interesting projects I carried out was assigning a video task. Since I was made to understand that the students like watching movies for watching sake, I carried out a project in this area which could benefit the ESL learners and the teachers and even other target language learners. Although I have showed them films of interest before, I decided to write a task on the board and let the students maintain their groups of four each. I asked them to watch the movie, “High School Musical 2” and discuss the activities in the movie and also talk their feelings about the characters. I defined what activity is and what character is. I requested the students to feel free in expressing their feelings and opinions about the activities and the characters. I called their attention and explained to them that I am working in China because I want them to talk with me, interact in class and when I talk and there is no feed back or reaction from the students, I feel they do not understand. We all together agreed that if they do not interact or share their opinions and ask questions about the movie, I will never show them movies again. They were prepared to be serious this time and not to watch a movie just for the sake of watching. The students also had to compare both activities and characters to their personal life. This film’s theme focused around American class activities, summer activities like going to the beach, swimming, golf, base-ball, basket-ball, love, singing and part-time jobs. The students’ ages in the film ranged from 18- 21 years old which reflected those of my students in class.
This movie activity took place for a month. I divided a two hours movie into a series and the students watched and expressed their opinions about the characters and their activities. When the students were discussing in their different groups, I was video-taping and also taking down some notes because I could not video everything. For the first time in a video class, I saw vivid facial expressions of happiness. The movie moved most of the students and some interacted even without thinking that they were shy. There was laughter, praises in the classroom. During our short breaks some of the students were already asking me questions about the movie. We divided the two hours movie and watched in different sessions. Since we had 7 groups of 4 each, two of the groups presented after the first session. After their presentation, they asked questions from the other students and also asked me questions about some of the characters in the movie. The students sitting as audience also decided to ask questions from individual members of the groups presenting. After watching all the movie and having had all the groups presented, I decided to watch the video tape with the students to see how improved they had gone in class interaction. Many students were very excited to see how they were performing. Although some were shy, it was an area of interest for them to improve their listening and speaking skills.

THE OUTCOME OF THE MOVIE

After watching a video of their own performance, I decided to call individual students to answer my questions about the movie. First understanding that they were unable to ask questions, I had an active class with them using WH-questions, where, when, what, why who and how and assigned them to write down five questions each for me to check. The students were able to remember the scenes of the movie and could remember the different roles performed by the different characters. 10 students in a class of 30 asked me individual questions using why, when, how and what. Of the 30 students 15 students volunteered to ask questions from the other groups. In each group that performed, at least four students volunteered to ask their classmates questions. I became a facilitator, and each time I wanted to ask a question, a student was preparing to put up his or her hand too, so I gave them more opportunities to discuss. In my thought I felt that instead of designing only listening comprehension and reading comprehension for students, movie watching is also necessary because the learners need it. Even if they do not understand they are able to guess what the characters do and will be motivated in talking about it. I designed movie watching and listening comprehension class and think this can bring along classroom interaction.
As a teacher and also an actor, I also made my students watch the movie that we have acted titled, “China Wahala.” When the students found their teaching acting several roles in the movie, they were motivated and were very free to ask me as many questions as possible. The sketch of “China Wahala” could be watched from www.youtube.com. Students asked me if I were a cheat, or an accomplice in the movie, and whether the actions I do in the movie, do I practice them in daily life? I read from many authors too to get their thought about making ESL students talk in class. Another great technique of making students talk in ESL class can be seen through Gertrude Moskowitz’s humanistic teaching: Caring and Sharing in Foreign Language Class (Heinle and Heinle) and The Foreign Teacher Interacts (Amidon Publications). Her most recent interest is multicultural education. Teaching foreign languages entails learning and talking about other cultures and also involving the learners to share in these different cultures for better understanding. Moskowitz wishes all teachers to involve in “Teacher- in- role”, a technique that second language teachers can use to get celebrities and other guests to come to their classes. Simply stated, teacher -in- role is where teachers themselves portray people other than themselves in their classes. In other words, the teacher changes roles (disappears, so to speak, so to speak, from the class) and becomes someone else instead. For one thing, it becomes a surprise to the class. That is, it’s not announced that you are taking on a new identity. So what you can do is to mention that a guest is coming to the class the day before or that day and then leave the class to”find the guest” who seems to be lost or waiting in the office to be escorted to the class. Or you can arrive a few minutes late after your class is seated and enter in role. Or the class may be working in groups or on a written assignment and you slip out momentarily to put whatever simple costume is needed to become the new persona. Or if the costume change is slight, such as putting a mask ache or a type of hat or carrying a fan, you turn your back to the class for a moment, make the change, and upon facing the class again, you’re now in the role. At any rate, whichever means you choose, you are now decked in whatever paraphernalia you need to be the expected or unexpected guest
As soon as you go in the role and become that character the students just fall into role with you. It is fun and the class is both surprised and fascinated, but you always have linguistic purposes for doing teacher-in- role things you want the students to learn, experience, practice, or have reinforced. It is an effective way to teach and communicate certain aspects of the target language or culture. I remember, in one of our role plays we staged a short sketch on eating habits in China (Someone eating, many dishes on the table, chopsticks, spitting- by, bulging aloud, drinking and smoking at the same time) and also showed a movie on western eating habits(A few dishes, spoons, fork, table knives table napkins etc, no smoking. Then we compared the eating habits of both cultures and the students discussed which were better.
I sometimes, just like Gertrude do, perform my role in our movie “China Wahala” and also play the roles of other movie stars, sing songs and play the guitar.
Here are some comments from students after interested teachers- in- roles perform:

“The presentation was very stimulating. It gave the teacher a chance to teach us in a more entertaining way”

“Even though we knew it was our teacher, she never stopped acting as we asked her questions, which made it more realistic.” “The costume and extensive knowledge about Frida were very helpful. Good job!”

“I definitely would like other presentations like this as it gives students a chance to see and learn things first- hand. It makes the class exciting.”

Penny Ur, (2006) Cambridge University Press, a famous teacher and writer states that effective learning of a foreign language depends crucially on repetition. But repetition is boring, so one of the most important goals of foreign language teaching is to make repetition interesting. The stages of learning language items:
a) From dependence to independence: It is not that learners move from ‘not knowing’ to ‘knowing’, but rather from not knowing at all to ‘noticing’ to ‘ knowing if you remind and support them’ and finally to knowing on their own’(Vygotzky, 1978)
b) From passive recognition to active production. Learners normally achieve passive mastery (recognizing something when they see it but wouldn’t have been able to produce it on their own) before they achieve active mastery. So in all, there are at least four stages in the gradual acquisition of new language items: 1) the learner perceives and ‘notices’ the new item, with help
2) The learner can recognize it only if helped, can’t reproduce
3) The learner can recognize it on his/her own, but can produce it if helped
4) The learner can both recognize and reproduce it on his /her own

What we can learn from Ur’s research?
a) Adults / adolescents need between 6 and 16 encounters with a new word before they can remember it (Zahar et al., 2001). Younger learners probably even need more.
b) ‘Distributed practice is probably better than ‘massed’ (Baddeley, 1990).
So probably we need to do an immense amount of deliberate re-cycling of new language (letters, sounds words, ‘chunks’, and grammatical structures). This recycling, or repetition, needs to be scattered (‘distributed’), not all in one go.
So we should be leading constant ‘cumulative’ review exercises.

In my classes, what I have noticed is that when I am speaking, some students spend their time looking at my mouth and repeating just what I am saying. Well, I have never said anything concerning this, but I always make sure, I write new vocabulary and expressions on the blackboard and I read and they repeat. As some sort of practice I may define a word and ask a student to look for the word on the board and there after, we repeat it. For example, I may say it is some one who usually receives calls and directs people in a hotel or in an office, then I will expect the students to look from other groups of words and say ‘receptionist’ , then all of us will then repeat the word. Other students may take turns to define and others search on the board. Rather than just reading the words, it is sometimes very interesting like this. So the learners always need the help of the teacher. Some students bring their electronic dictionaries in class which equally helps them listen to the sound, but it is more important to listen to the teacher and pronounce together because the melodious sound can also help in keeping the word.

An Example of a Lesson plan (Developing students to speak in class)

A movie class: For this activity, the teacher shows a movie in the class and the students watch and discuss in groups of 4 each and present their opinions, summarize, talk about characters in the movie in front of the class. After their presentation, they will call their classmates/ audience to ask questions and also answer questions from them. The teacher sometimes asks questions or the students ask the teacher a question as well. Sometimes students may choose their own movies to watch
Title of movie: In this research, I requested the students to watch “High School Musical 2” and “China Wahala 1” and talk about the meaning, the characters and the activities. The learners would be able to talk about the characters they admire and why.
Level of Students: Second year students in university. Travel major students.
Equipment / resources required
Computer, internet, word processor, Multimedia software (Hyper studio, power point.
Classroom Organization (pairs, groups, class, individuals)
Estimated Time: 2 hours every week.

Driving Question: Watch the movies and in your groups discuss and make a presentation in front of the class. Talk about the characters you admire or hate and why. Also talk about some of the activities in the movies

Objectives:
- Write, listen and present information to express thoughts and feelings.
- Connect stories to personal experiences. On stage present and also ask questions from the audience. The audience will also ask speakers questions.
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Curriculum resources / Designing activities for interaction

Some of the speaking activities, which I designed for my research, are: These activities if well used by the teacher and students can bring a very interactive class.


Activity 1: Greetings/ Introductions- Students greet each other and introduce themselves and where they come from. Talk about things that are famous in their home town. Teachers may write all this on the board and ask students to write on the back of their books to read everyday. This may also be written and pasted in the classroom as posters.
Activity 2: Geographical literacy- City, Town, and All Around- Acquiring language through …Discussion, naming places, describing places, using maps to identify important places in the community, and total physical response. Watching and talking about “Nature”. From National Geography” e.g., life of animals, birds, aquatic life, aviation, world of science etc, world of work, professions.
Objective: To use who, what, and where, how, when questions in order to understand living together.
Group size: six equal groups
Materials needed: Reproducible 24(one per group); map of your city, town, or region; promotional materials, visitors’ information, and local newspapers with pictures of points of interest in your city, town or region; colored marking pens; masking tape.
Activity 3: Movies: For this activity, the teacher shows a movie in the class and the students watch and discuss in groups of 4 each and present their opinions, summarize, talk about characters in the movie in front of the class. After their presentation, they will call their classmates/ audience to ask questions and also answer questions from them. The teacher sometimes asks questions or the students ask the teacher a question as well. Sometimes students may choose their own movies to watch.
Activity 4: short stories and plays: The student would be asked to choose a short story, play or novel to read. During the session, she would summarize the reading and give her opinion and feelings about the events and characters in it.
Activity 5: Computer/TV/ Radio news: Before the class, students would be assigned to watch computer/ TV or listen to radio news and take notes on at least 3 news items. During the session, he would then first restate the news, and then talk about the issues mentioned in it.
Activity 6: Questionaires (oral interview) – Instructions to students:
These questions can be answered by more than one person. Each member of your group will be interviewed by the others. In this way everyone gets a chance to ask as well as answer questions.
Use this guide for the questions and answers. For Name you ask the question: “What is your name?” For Age: “How old are you?” For Date of birth: When were you born?” And so on.
Questions Answer
(a) Name (My name is)………
(b) Age (I am)……… (Years old)
(c) Date of birth (I was born on)………..
(d) Place of birth …………………
(e) Address ………………..
(f) Brothers and sisters ………………
(g) Favorite subjects at school ……….

Now make up your own questions.
At the end of the interview decide how well each person being interviewed has done. You may award marks.
Activity 7: Group Activity:
a) In this activity the learners would work in pairs: Students could talk about the food they like, what their parents do, the games they play, clothes that are in fashion, motor cars, aviation, famous people in all walks of life. Other activities could be word games and puzzles, finding directions in a maze, drawing up rules and regulations for a club or a school
b) Instructions for students
You are members of a committee of prefects in your college. The job of your committee is to draw up a list of rules and regulations to be enforced by the prefects in the college. Talk about the things your schoolmates should and should not do. Then write out the rules.
Here are a few dos (that is things they should do) and don’ts (the things they should not do). Use them as a basis for writing your own. Add as many as you can, then prepare them for display on the notice board.
Dos Don’ts
1. Be punctual in getting to school. 1. Don’t be rude to your teachers.
2. Be neat and tidy in your appearance. 2. Don’t make noise in the library
3. Throw your rubbish in the dustbin. 3. Don’t drop bits of food in the classroom
4. Take your proper place when lining up.4. Don’t fight in class or on the school
Premises.
……………………………………………. …………………………………………
……………………………………………. …………………………………………
……………………………………………. …………………………………………

Activity 8: “Teachers- in-role”- Teacher- in- role”, a technique that second language teachers can use to get celebrities and other guests to come to their classes. Simply stated, teacher -in- role is where teachers themselves portray people other than themselves in their classes. In other words, the teacher changes roles (disappears, so to speak, so to speak, from the class) and becomes someone else instead. For one thing, it becomes a surprise to the class. That is, it’s not announced that you are taking on a new identity. So what you can do is to mention that a guest is coming to the class the day before or that day and then leave the class to “find the guest” who seems to be lost or waiting in the office to be escorted to the class. You could be Bill Clinton, Mandela, George Bush, Obama, or Michael Jackson, the pop star. Any role you choose to play. You just go into role and become that character, and the rest is easy because they will just fall into role with you. If a few don’t follow your lead, just remain strictly in character and they will soon go along with you. You may give a speech and students will ask you questions.
Activity 9: Music and song in discussion: As most teachers find out, students love listening to music in the language classroom. It can also be a teaching tool. Often students hold strong views about music and students who are usually quiet can become very talkative when discussing it.
In many cases the teacher plays a song, the students can watch the lyrics if possible and he leads a discussion/vocabulary on the meaning of the song. This is one of the many ways that music or song can lead a fruitful discussion. For example, some good song titles which could also be got from www.youtube.com are:
a) ‘ love’ by West life
b) ‘I have a dream’ by West life
c) ‘Take me to your heart’ by Michael Lens
d) ‘Heal the world,’’ We are the world’ ‘Black or White’ by Michael Jackson
e) ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’ by Boney M.
In fact students can learn a lot through songs, music and poetry. In this activity some students could express their ideas on their favorite songs and singers.
Activity 10: Reading passages or dialogues in magazines or textbooks. Learners could also listen or watch from tapes. During or before sessions the student would be given a short passage or dialogue to read or listen; he would then be asked comprehension questions. A discussion on the topic covered in the passage or dialogue would be followed.

Activity 11: Noticing: Simply display; pictures and explanation; (significant occurrence in a story; chants, songs
Activity 12: Recognition: Matching true/false; classifying; multiple choice; drawing; ‘bingo’
Activity 13:‘Scaffold’ Production: recitations; dialogues learnt by heart ;( prepared) dictation; games based on set basic patterns; answering (lower-level) questions. For example, in this activity, a student could represent a traveler coming from another country and could call to book for a hotel. In a dialogue, another student could represent the hotel manager. The traveler should talk about the kind of room, when he arrives and should arrange for a pick up.
Activity 14: Independent Production (unprepared) dictation; response to picture; answering (higher- level) questions; discussion; free writing.
Activity 15: Dictionary word description: In this activity, the students’ pair up and one of them defines a word or gives several descriptions of a word without mentioning it, for the other to guess the word. They exchange roles. For example, it is a thing used to search information, write fast letters, buy and sell goods, telephone. The other student should say “it is a computer/internet.” This activity develops learners’ vocabulary and expressions. Many of the students are excited to do this activity. They learn to communicate fast through this way, instead of just using words in isolation.


HOW THE ACTIVITIES WORKED

Some of the above activities were applied in different sessions with the students. I videotaped some of the activities and made notes on each student’s interest. In a class of 30 students nearly all of them indicated strong interest in watching movies and commenting on them. They also showed a strong desire looking at pictures and asking question or describing them. Students in their groups, 4 each or pairs presented in front of the class, for about 20 to 25 minutes per group. Their class mates were also excited to ask them questions. Other students presented sketches and asked each other’s opinion about the characters they were representing. Another student for example talked about VIP’s and asked their friends whether they think “VIP’s” should integrate in front of them at the banks or any where, where people are standing to do something. Students gave their different opinions and I feel this also brought in a lot of discussions. Mean while other students also developed a topic on “how others treat Anger”. The topic on dictionary word description was also entertaining as many of the students changed roles to describe something and their friends guess the word. This brought a lot of excitement and joy in the class while they were doing this activity
Their interest in watching movies (activity 3), giving the meaning, talking about the characters and asking questions to their friends showed a lot of interaction. This is one of the ways of developing students’ interest to talk in class especially in a class where students are too shy or not motivated. When I videotaped some of the activities, I reviewed the tapes to see approximately the amount of time each student spent in talking and to see who the initiator of the speaking act was, I discovered that I did not speak so much as before and much of the speaking was done by the students. In a two hours class, I could speak like 30 minutes in facilitating students’ tasks, especially as the students were able to discuss about certain characters in the movies that reflected their daily lives. As the students asked and answered question about the movies, “High Musical” and “China Wahala”, I could not underestimate their listening ability as I thought the actions in the two movies also helped in their understanding and interaction. This was mostly in their tutorial classes. This really developed their interest in speaking. The movie, song and music class was one of the most exciting. Among other activities that provided meaningful contexts for the students to practice their speaking skills were greetings and introduction (activity 1), geographical literacy (activity 2), short stories and plays (activity 4), Computer/TV/ Radio news (activity5), Questionnaires (oral interview)( activity 6), Group Activity(activity 7), “Teachers- in-role”- Teacher- in- role”( activity 8). Apart from these activities, daily activities in teaching the students had been doing reading and listening comprehension. In fact taking the students out of class to breath fresh air can make them to reflect and speak more than sitting in the classroom all the times in an oral English lesson. They would be able to describe the environment outside than read or listen to the teacher all the times. A realistic acceptance of limitations in the classroom setting is necessary, in view of current emphases on communication as a goal in second and foreign language teaching. We cannot physically bring into the classroom a market, a railway station, a hotel lobby or a post office, in order to practice use of language. Neither can we wave a magic wand and transform students into real buyers and sellers, ticket collectors, receptionists, or clerks. Games, movies, and simulated activities are one thing, the reality is quite another. Some students are able to shift nearer the teacher outside the classroom to ask or explain their problems. We should note this and also recognize the fact that “patience” should be the name of a second language teacher.

RESULTS OF MY RESEARCH

At the beginning of my research, I did not know exactly what to teach the students as they could neither answer my questions nor ask theirs. But when I did the findings and developed the above activities the learners were very excited with some than others. This guided me to know what to always do with them since my task was to make them learn how to speak. I understood in my research that I could not limit myself to their textbook alone and went ahead to develop many activities which we tried and succeeded in some. I was able to choose what would work for my students than trying to apply the most recent and popular methods and activities. From this experience, I told my colleagues in a meeting we had that they can also benefit from observing their students and analyzing the circumstances and conditions under which learning experiences are accomplished. I also learnt that the teacher should not be concerned with searching for the best method but, rather, should be concerned with the students and trying to find out what works for them. This can really form the basis for developing a student –centered classroom. We all understand the fact that a dynamic and interact ional classroom makes both teachers and students very happy. Some of the activities like music and song were interesting but the students need time and continuous practice to keep the songs. They enjoyed the songs and I brought out vocabulary, meaning and expressions but recalling the melody was a problem. I think, I will take some of the songs and play at relaxation moments or as motivation resources to make them remember. We included “jingle bells” and “we wish you a merry Christmas to the other titles” I still have to improve on activity 11,(noticing ) and activity 13, (scaffold production) and activity 14,(independent production, unprepared), as the students were still unable to discuss freely without preparing. From this research I have learnt a lot, because I now understand what can quickly work in my classes. I am now trying to modify the activities which did not work well in order to improve the learners talking ability. A lot of patience is needed to motivate learners talk especially adults who have never had a speaking environment.















APPRECIATION

Special thanks to Dr. Elizabeth Yeoman, my instructor and supervisor who tirelessly motivated me in this project and in my whole Master’s Program. I also thank Angel, my wife and Brian, my son who continuously supported me with food and entertainment when I was hungry and worried.
















References:


1) Language Teaching Awareness: A guide to Exploring Beliefs and Practices. Jerry G. Gebhard, Robert Oprandy.

2) How Language works by David Crystal

3) English Language Teaching: An Integrated Approach. David Williams.

4) Information and guidance from the Instructor. Dr. Yeoman E.

5) Online forums: www.caslt.org/esl , www.eslcafe.com/teacherforums

6) Making Repetition Interesting. Cambridge University press. Ur

7) Spell bound in the Language Class: A Strategy of Surprise. (Volume III- 1995- 1996) by Gertrude Moskotwitz

8) Accuracy and correcting mistakes. Cambridge University Press by Penny Ur (nd)

9) Teaching Heterogeneous classes. Cambridge University Press.( 2006) by Penny Ur

10) Hess, N. (2001) Teaching Large Multilevel Classes. Cambridge University Press.

11) Ur, P. (1996) A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge University press.

12) Murphey, T. (1990) Music and Song. Oxford University Press.









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