What should be considered when Teaching Speaking?
1. ESL teachers should be ready with appropriate, authentic and suitable topics. Easier topics would be suitable for weak students while difficult topics would be appropriate for upper- intermediate and advanced ESL learners. The main focus should be in motivating students to speak; no matter if they are weak in term of language usage and so on.
2. Timing is everything. Teachers should know when and where to stop an oral session if any amendments needed. Too many corrections will block students’ interest in the ESL activities and may switch off their mood. Give the students appropriate time to start a conversation, try not to push them too hard. Give them the time to think of what they can comfortably say and know how to articulate the words or sentences.
3. ESL teachers must always remind the students on the importance of the targeted skill from time to time so that ESL learners will take the activities seriously. What they are practicing now could be very useful in the future in a real or authentic situation.
4. Always converse with the second language learners in the target language which is English and not in their mother tongue language. This can some how motivate ESL learners once they know that teachers will not tolerate other request than in English.
What should be considered when Learning Speaking?
1. ESL learners should have the motivation to try. The first 3 sessions could be difficult but once students are getting used to the skills with the right techniques, they will enjoy it and are anxious for more in the future.
2. Omit the negative attitude and feeling for instance feeling shy as it can block the process of teaching especially the learning of target skill.
3. Practice and more practice especially when you have the opportunity. By joining popular social website like Facebook, MySpace or Twitter, a student can interact directly with the real target language speakers from other countries for example United States, Canada, Australia and United Kingdom. This way ESL learner can ‘learn’ from the ‘real’ people or speakers of English in an authentic situation when using the application of ‘chatting’.
