speaking at a school event – chapter web viewhow did you feel after the conversation? _____...

Speaking at a School Event

Facilitator: Sarah Coutts

Objectives: Trainees will learn key expressions and phrases to use in welcome speeches as well as the basic structure of such a speech. They will also practice speaking using guided prompts and work towards giving a short welcome speech for an event.

Speaking in Public

Not everyone is a confident speaker even when speaking in their first language. Think about the times that you have to speak in front of an audience then answer the following prompts.

1. How do you feel when you speak in front of an audience? ______________

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2. What do you like about speaking in public? __________________________

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3. What do you dislike about speaking in public? _______________________

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4. How do you feel when you make a mistake when speaking in public?

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5. What type of person is your most common audience? _________________

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English Reflections

Think about the last time you spoke in English, or you had to speak to a native English speaker. Write your ideas in the spaces below.

1. What did you talk about? ________________________________________

2. How long was the conversation? __________________________________

3. How did you feel during the conversation? __________________________

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4. How did you feel after the conversation? ___________________________

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Now share your ideas with a partner. Were there any similarities? Mention them below:

We all have fears. Sometimes, we have many fears, but some are worse than others. Order these fears as follows: 1 (most feared) 10 (least feared).

Losing face

Accent

Lack of fluency

Making mistakes

Not being understood

Poor pronunciation

Limited vocabulary

Speaking in front of others

Not understanding other speakers

Speaking English in general

Look at your top three fears when using English.

1. Whats the worst thing that could happen when youre faced with this situation? __________________________________________________

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2. How could you overcome these fears? _____________________________

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Now share your ideas with a partner.

Where does this fear come from?[footnoteRef:1] [1: http://englishharmony.com/conquer-fear-of-making-mistakes-when-speaking-english/ Date Accessed: 23 March 2015]

Why is this fear so common among foreign English speakers? There are a couple of reasons, but the biggest goes back to your school dayswhen you studied English from behind a desk.

Think of it this way: At school, you are aiming to achieve good grades, so every mistake you make affects your assessment results. Although students are generally encouraged to speak and express themselves, there is still the constant pressure of assessments and meeting standards. While this approach works in subjects like Math, its less effective in languages.

Speaking English is more like art and music because its more important to be able to improvise and express oneself rather than re-produce exact phrases. In other words, the focus of English lessons at school is not effective in encouraging and developing English speakers who associate errors with a low grade.

You have to change your mindset regarding how you perceive mistakes made during a conversation!

Speaking English Is Much More Than Just Words!

Theres much more to speaking English than just being able to speak. Its actually more about facing other people, especially people you speak with for the first time, or important people, and the related stress youre experiencing and how it affects your verbal performance. You may even find yourself in a strange situation when you can speak with much fewer mistakes with certain people or when you practice your spoken English with yourself.

If you consider making mistakes during English speech to be something terrifying, as something that you make and it stays there, and you cant correct, or as something that will definitely make others laugh at you and youll end up being humiliated, then you definitely have to change the way you see mistakes.

Why use English at school events?

The cycle of fear described above will continue to repeat itself until we show students that speaking English doesnt have to be a terrifying experience. Using English even just a little in speeches at school events can help students to see that English is much, much more than just another test to excel in!

Most of the speaking that is done by principals and vice-principals at school events involves welcoming students, encouraging them and perhaps introducing a guest speaker. For these reasons, the advantages of using even a few sentences of English during these speeches are significant and will go a long way to encourage students to persevere in their own English studies.

School Events in Korea

Look at the following pictures and posters. Discuss them with a partner.

(1)

(a) What type of school event does the picture suggest/advertise? _________

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(b) What type of role would you have in this event? _____________________

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(2)


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(3)


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(4)


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(5)


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(6)


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(7)


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(8)


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The type of events schools host can vary from one school to another. However, there are a few common events, such as:

Partnership school welcome

Ambassador visits

Special programs

English camps

Hopeful expectations of a program

English speech competitions

English pop song contests

School festivals

Your School

Think about your school and students. What type of events do you have each year?

Now share your ideas with your partner.

Speaking English at Your School

Think about your school events and students. Answer the following questions then discuss them with a partner. Give reasons for your answers.

(a) Identify the school events at which you HAVE had to speak English in your job. _________________________________________________________

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(b) Identify the school events at which you THINK you should be able to speak English. _______________________________________________________

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(c) Identify the school events at which youd like to speak English in your job. Are they the same as (a) and (b)? __________________________________

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speaking at a school event – chapter web viewhow did you feel after the conversation? _____...

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