Over the Wall of Silence

40 Over the Wall of Silence

Ÿ Having students write down their own answers to the ques tion being drilled in class (“Do you have any pets?”). Ÿ Guided Speaking Practice exercises in which students are given a basic conversation structure, within which they then re place the key vocabulary or phrases with a list of other options (all chosen in advance by the teacher). Ÿ Have students script a whole dialog with a partner and then perform it. This activity, which can instantly be made into a test, is wildly popular with students, probably because it in volves creativity and cooperation, without being perceived as difficult or scary. It is also surprisingly efficient from a pedagog ical point of view, as the dialogs students come up with, and their performances of them, are usually of a high standard. Ÿ Finally, if students have been able to gradually progress through less and less-guided exercises, real-time conversation practice will be smooth, even in those large, initially unmoti vated, low-level classes. Of course, (as we advocated in the first section) using smart testing as the carrot and the stick is also invaluable in getting to that very achievable goal. Our advice is this: don’t skip levels. Just like the target language itself must get progressively harder, so must the complexity of tasks. This has to be progressive and systematic. Have students start with the easiest tasks and work their way gradually to the hardest. You’ll then find that they are more likely to be able to riff off each other and play with the language creatively.