Teaching Dialogical Speech at Different Levels of Language Acquisition

        Then each group presents the information they’ve got from one of other groups. They may make presentation using any self-made visuals [ 24, 138]

  The following Social English Section focused on pair work, reading for discussion, communication activities which develop fluency and give students practice  in using the language under controlled conditions.

  Pair work

The teacher distributes the pictures among the pairs. The students are to make up a short dialogues using “instead of doing smth” as in the example:

S1: - Dick, did you finish reading your book yesterday?

S2: - Oh, no. I was working in the garden instead of reading. Etc.[31, 110]

Reading for discussion

After reading the text the teacher offers the following communicative activities:

1) Guided dialogues.

While acting out the dialogues the students should be active and polite, using active lexis of the text.

                 Matilda                                                             Her Father

           “Easy Cooking”                                                        the telly

    you could buy me a book                                  you’re getting spoiled

smth more interesting                                       any problem, dear

 

        Matilda                                                       The Librarian

The children’s books                                         to help you

I can manage                                                       with a lot of pictures

 

       Matilda                                                       The Librarian

I’ve finished                                                        What sort of a book

Grown-ups read                                                   try the book by

2) Class discussion

The teacher can organize the discussion if the events described in the story can or can’t happen in reality. The students should express their opinion and give reasons. Then  the students do the next exercise in the form of an interview game. The students walk around the classroom asking the questions to collect the information suggested in the exercise. They should fill in the following format.

questions	S1	S2	S3	…………..
How often do you read books? What kind of books do you prefer? What authors do you like? ………………	Every day   Detectives   Christie …………….	Never   Poems   Pushkin ……………….	Seldom   Humour        stories O’Henry …………….	………….   …………     ………….. …………..

ASSESSMENT

The teacher offers two situations to the pairs of students. Each pair chooses one they like. The situations may be the following:

1. Make up a dialogue between a librarian and a student on the situation: the student doesn’t remember the name of the author and the title of the book he must read for his class. The librarian asks him questions and helps to find the necessary book [36, ]

2. You are going to your friend’s birthday and want to buy a book as a present. Your partner laughs at your idea because he thinks reading is out of fashion. Try to prove your choice.

Criteria for evaluation:   - Be active and polite.

                                              - Speak 2 – 2,5 minutes.

                                                -  Use topical vocabulary of the unit.

 

3.4.Upper-intermidiate level

Upper-intermediate learners have taken great strides in mastering English.  Vocabulary and grammar from the beginning stages of learning hasn't yet become automatic, but they can talk about a variety of everyday topics with relative ease.  In fact, when talking about the weather, hobbies, work, or subjects of personal interest, they sound much stronger ability-wise than in truth they are.  Discussion or dialogues on difficult, unfamiliar topics is achievable, too. Conversation strategies have begun to find their way into conversations, as upper-intermediate learners become increasingly aware of intonation; rates of speech; polite versus formal English; English for general conversation, making requests, or complaining. 

What final words can summarize upper-intermediate students? 
1.  Experimentation with language goes hand-in-hand with this level, as they possess the foundation and skills to move beyond everyday topics. 
 2.  Mistakes are evident in even basic communicative tasks, but they don't usually hinder comprehension.

3.  And perhaps the best measure is the following: Upper-intermediate students can be understood by native English speakers with little difficulty, although some repetition may be needed.  What's more, even native speakers unfamiliar with the usual mistakes and idiosyncrasies connected with the ESL speaker's mother tongue can understand the conversation. [37, 2]

The set of practical tasks for upper-intermediate students as in previous intermediate level are presented in the form of lesson on topic “Sport in our life”.

Among different sections of the unit  much attention is paid for grammar section in which we propose to practise subjunctive mood in communication through dialogues. It would help students to improve their knowledge of grammar on one hand and to practise communicative skills on the other hand.

Task 1

 The teacher gives the photos of modern popular sportsmen (e.g. A.Kabayeva, E. Plushenko, D. Backham, etc.) to students. They match the pictures with the names of the sportsmen and the kind of sports. Then in groups the students choose any photo or picture they like, discuss all the info they know about this sportsman and make a short presentation.

Task 2 Guessing game

The students work in pairs. The first student takes a picture of sport equipment and doesn’t show it to partner. The second student asks questions to guess the sport. Possible questions:

 Is it indoor or outdoor sport?

Where can people practise it?

What equipment is necessary? Etc.

Task 3

The students do the task given in the student’s book. In pairs they make a page in the guide book about sports in their city. They can use the material of the exercise as an example. Then the students should present their information in a dialogue between a stranger in their city who is interested in sports and a native person. The students can use the flowchart.

                     S1 – a stranger

                     S2 – a native

 

Task 4

The students work in small groups. Their task is to find out how often their friends go in for sports. They should ask other students about it and note their answers.

Sport activity	Name	Frequency	Comments
Athletics Football Wrestling Basketball Martial arts …………….	Sasha ………….	Twice a week Never Every day ………………	I’m not interested I’d like to go in for I’m going to give up ………………….

Then they collect the information from the other members of the group and report about the students they’ve interviewed.

Task 5 

This task is the exercise from students’ book containing the verbs to do or to make.

  The following steps of doing it:

1) teacher distribute the dialogues;

2) students in pairs find and correct the mistakes (the teacher should mention the number of   mistakes beforehand. E.g three);         

3) the pairs act out their corrected dialogues;

4)  while acting the other pairs tick the mistakes in using the verbs to do and to make if there are any.

	Mistakes
Pair 1 Pair 2 …………

Sample dialogues:

The verbs in italics are used wrongly but in the students’ cards it is not shown.

S1 – Who makes housework in your family?

S2 – My mum makes dinner and I make the shopping. What do you do?

S1 – As for me, I do the washing up but I never do my bed.

S1 – I’ve heard you do progress in English.

S2 – You are right. It’s because I make my homework every day. By the way, have                          you done the translation for tomorrow?

S1 – Yes, I did my best but I’m not sure if I did no mistakes.           

Task 6 

Then in two groups students read the text “Ancient Olympics” and “Modern Olympics”. And the groups ask each other questions to fill in the format.

questions	different		common
	ancient	modern
1. purpose   2. participants   3. events       4. seasons   5.kinds of       competitions   6. people	- Saluting gods   - only men   - racing; later chariot races, pentathlon, wrestling   - only summer   - sports, oratory, music and theatre   - only Greeks	- Saluting athletic talents - both men and women - different summer and winter sports     - summer and winter   - only sports     - international	- Conflicts must be stopped - winners are awarded and honored -showed their personal achievements and records

 

The students should discuss the text with their partners and find out:

 - if he / she finds this info interesting? Why?

- would he / she like to visit ancient or modern Olympics? Why?

- would he / she like to watch or participate in any? why?

  In their dialogues they must use the active vocabulary of the text, different types of questions, phrases of politeness, speak about 1 – 1,5 minutes [32, 8].

Grammar Section. Subjunctive Mood.

To practise Subjunctive Mood in communication we offer to involve the students into guided dialogues on the following situations:

you want to keep fit;

you are often ill;

you are overweight;

…………………..

The students can ask their partners for advice.

E.g.  S1: You see, I’ve got some problems.

  S2: Really? What are they?

S1: I’ve put on weight and I’d like to stop it

S2: If I were you I would (join some sport club, give up eating cakes, etc.)

The certain unit is devoted to sports but the grammar, i.e. Subjunctive Mood, allows to speak on a wider range of topics. To make grammar section more communicative and not so boring we offer the following activities.

Students work in pairs and try to cope with the problems:

your bike has broken down;

your mobile phone was stolen yesterday;

you need to prepare a report for tomorrow;

your parents are away for a week; Etc.

E.g.  S1- states the problem.

        S2 – gives advice beginning with: If I were you I would….

Running dictation.

Students work in pairs. Each pair takes one card with a certain situation. Different phrases to develop the situation are displayed around the classroom. S1 “runs” about the classroom, reads the phrases and then repeats them to his / her partner who is at the desk and makes a list of them. The teacher limits the time (3-4 minutes) to collect the ideas. Then each pair makes up a short dialogue on the situation they’ve got using Subjunctive Mood.

Situations                                                                    Developments

a) be in Moscow                                                - buy an expensive bike, mobile

                                                                            phone,  computer, etc.                         

b) see a ghost                                                      - take a picture

c) loose a mobile phone                                      - have a shock

d) have a lot of money                                        - report to the police

e) quarrel with the friend                                    - (not) tell parents about it

f) miss the classes                                              - be upset

g) go on a journey                                              - hide my record book

h)……………….                                                - be punished

                                                                           - make friends with

                                                                            - visit….places

                                                                            - ……………………..

Sample dialogues:

S1:  You see, Mike, I’ve quarreled with my friend and I don’t know what to do.

S2:  If I were you I would cry. (If I quarreled with my friend I would be very upset.)

The following exercise can be done in two variants. Before doing the task the teacher draws the students’ attention to the criteria of evaluation (they can be displayed on the board if necessary):

correct Subjunctive;

sensibility of advice;

the number of ideas;

equal participation.

The teacher divides the students in groups. Each group gets a piece of the picture. They discuss what they would change. The groups display their parts on the board to make the whole picture and present their ideas. Groups have different pictures of rooms and the students discuss what they would change there. Then they present their pictures and ideas to the class.

New Words to Learn.

The teacher can practice the new words in the following way:

1. divide the students into two groups;
2. give each group equal number of cards with different new words or word combinations;
3. groups in turn take one card and make up a question with the word on the card for their opponents to answer it;
4. if the other group answers the question correctly then it’s their turn to ask. If not, group1 takes another card and asks the question again;
5. the winner is the group used all the cards in questions first [30, ];

Listening comprehension.

To develop speaking skill the teacher can organize a press conference with “Sophia” (S1) and “Patrick” (S2). The other students ask questions using ideas of exercise from students’ or their own ones and make notes to collect the information for a poster they are to make. After the conference the teacher divides the students into two groups. Each group makes a poster about “Sophia” or “Patrick”.

  Criteria for evaluation:

- a catching title;

- informative;

- colorful;

- sport lexis is used.

Discussing the topic.

To get the students ready for the final assessment of the unit the teacher can organize the debates “What is more enjoyable – to watch or to do sports?” before the debates the teacher and the students discuss and make a list of criteria for evaluation. They may be:

1. all members of the team are active and polite;
2. each team generates ideas and give reasons;
3. the students find out their friends’ attitude and take them into account;
4. the teams’ arguments are convincing;

Organization:  Two teams – "fans or viewers" and "sportsmen".

Procedure:      

Step1 – Each team discusses their arguments to support their position.

Step2 – Think over the possible arguments of the opposite team and  the way to  criticize them.                                  

Step3 – The teams in turn present their arguments to prove their position.

Step4 – The teams in turn criticize the opponents’ ideas.

Step5 – The teams try to come to agreement.

ASSESSMENT

You and your friend think about: joining a sport club; going to watch some sport competition; going to arrange a sport competition in your class / school.