Dear all,
Chatting is the immediate and easy methodology to accomplish the tongue in the international language . English as an international language of communication is quite hard to converse particularly in developing countries for so many reasons. Under such an uncondusive environment, it is an uphill task to develop fluency for the beginners in the language. Keeping the fact in mind, chatting has been found out as an effective foundation technique to develop the fluency.
AIM:
To accomplish the learners’ tongue in English
In Indian classrooms where the class strength is around 40, chatting works out a wonder. The first 20 minutes of the class can be left for chatting between two partners as a motivator, by which they converse in english better and contribute in other modules like roleplays, sentence games, talk shows etc.
Any general topic of interest is offered to student pairs
For example,
- How do you prepare tea
- Daily routines
- Future plans
The students may be encouraged to speak with a minimum possible fluency. At the initial stage much emphasis on correct usage of grammar need not be made. However, in due course it must be ensured that fluency is coped with correct usage of parts of speech.
In the global scenario, chatting can be used in classrooms as a booster pack for non-native speakers of English.In this context I would like to raise the following questions
1. Have you tried chatting in your classroom at the initial level? if so narrate your experiences?
2. If not, What are the other methods do you use in your classrooms to develop oral fluency?
Waiting forward for your comments and reply
regards
dr.mangay
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From your query, when you say chatting is effective, are you trying to imply that students sit with their partner and start talking, while you just walk around and oversee the whole activity.
I was in Mumbai for close to 40 years of my life, and presently I have settled down South (Kerala) over the last 4 years. Let me tell you, this method does not work.
We need to ensure that the whole class is put into groups and each group is given a different activity. This will ensure that there is lot of variety and the class does not become monotonous. I assign various activities, as in, talk shows, role plays, sales presentation, group discussion and so on.
It is very critical that students come out and perform in front of the class. You are spot on when you say that the focus of the trainer should be purely to get the confidence factor going in the student and not concentrate on the grammatical structures.
When I am sure that students have got over their initial fear or apprehensions, which is evident by their body language, I gradually enter the second phase of the training, where I start making corrections in their structures. I also found students taking feedbacks very positively and taking it as a challenge to perform better, the next time they come out to speak.
Dear Girish,
Thanks for your earnest reply. Chatting is a quick method for learning any language in the world. Then why not English? You could have read the BBC report today that India is lagging behind china in English usage.the reason is the lack of trained teachers to train our students in oral communication.
A simple question asked in interview panel "tell me about yourself"? How many students have failed in this area. Let us focus on functional English.
As English teachers we too can forget English if we stop chatting. You can find live chat rooms in net connecting our people globally. In this context, why can't we ask our students to chat for a short period of time in class everyday. Let us try, the results will be more than anticipated.
regards
dr.mangay
Dear Mrs mangay,
Thank you very much for breaking the silence of scholars after a long time. The silence of scholars really surprises me. This is in response to your reply to my blog 'Should we Teach grammar at all? I am happy that you are also a member of ELTAI. I do remember you well. I have been to hyderabad as a text book writer for A.P. I have read your topic 'chatting an effective class room practice which is really a novel idea.
After teaching English at different levels at different places I have made my personal observations which may or may not be accepted.It is a fact that most Indian students and teachers are unable to speak or acquire English because of the faulty teaching methods,text books and the examination system.Some native speakers are calling our inglish robot English.these comments really pain me. We don't and can't speak like the native speakers. In fact we don't have the need to do so.but we must speak English.it may be Indian English,robot English or butler English. I really appreciate your experiments in your classes.
I ask my kids to speak about their family and their experiences after the holidays and ask them to speak as much English as possible in the class.i try to speak only in english to them. i would like to create one blog for this soon. I hope you will read and comment.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely,
JVL NARASIMHA RAO
Dear Dr Mangay,
Pleasure to meet you here at TE, Teaching English Newsletter.
As far as your question is concerned, I must confess "chatting at the initial level(s)" should be a must. In my view, and through my experience as EFL teacher, we should start doing so from simple expressions/phrases and short sentences, always within a situational context. We mean, for example:
- on entering the classroom and greeting our learners
- asking short, direct questions e.g. focusing on their likes/dislikes; family members/relatives; favourite TV programmes; sports; meals ; daily routine; experiences on holidays; hobbies; pen-pals or e-pals these days
- inviting learners to use the target language for addressing their peers and teacher during lesson time
- even very short talks outside the classroom, around the school
We think that oral fluency is just achieved through these initial practices, which usually motivate learners for raising language awareness and keep them interested in their own discoveries.
Best regards,
Maria
Dear maria,
sorry for my delayed response.Thanks for your confession and your supporting classroom examples,which will be useful for spoken English promoters worldwide.
“ Practice makes perfect”.accordingly chat,chat,chat till you speak correctly.later according to the resources available videos,audios etc in classrooms we can make our learners speechmasters
Regards
Dr.mangay