OUTLINE FOR TEENAGERS ESL PROGRAMME VIETNAM 2018

Listening and Speaking

Students will be expected to speak and listen to explore, expand, clarify and reflect on their thoughts,
ideas, feelings and experiences.

Specific Outcomes Focus for Teaching and Learning

Initiate and sustain simple day-to-day conversation: • ask about and tell feelings • express needs • ask
about and express opinions with support • ask about and retell personal events/actions • tell future
plans • extend an invitation.

Throughout the course, students should have many opportunities to develop speaking skills. Speaking is
used to communicate ideas and to interact with others. Speaking contributes to clarifying, extending or
deepening understanding. Cooperative learning and interactive activities set the stage for the student to
develop skills in a risk-free environment.

Performance Indicators

The student: • initiates and sustains conversation on a personal topic for several minutes. • uses basic
vocabulary, structures and pronunciation necessary to be clearly understood in conversation and
discussion. • talks about feelings and emotions. • expresses and supports opinions, likes and dislikes. •
expresses needs clearly. • expresses opinions clearly on a variety of personal and academic topics. • asks
questions to initiate and extend conversation. • relates past events chronologically. • tells future plans.
• extends an invitation. At this level, the message should be clear if not always grammatically correct.

It is important that student have support from teachers to develop strategies for:

• Building day-to-day conversation skills: initiate conversations; use greetings and routine openers; ask
and respond to questions; listen closely to respond appropriately; model native speakers; make eye
contact with audience; rehearse conversation starters; rehearse speaking on topics of interested; ask for
repetition or clarification.* * Be cautious in insisting on some strategies, such as making eye contact,
direct questioning or initiating conversation with a superior, modeling native speakers, etc. Strategies
used by a student must be culturally acceptable to the student.

CURRICULUM OUTCOMES

Suggestions for Learning and Assessment Resources and Notes Activation

• Brainstorm ways to improve conversation skills. • Brainstorm conversation starters. • Brainstorm

what makes a good oral presentation (eye contact, clear speech, pacing, etc.). Connection • Use shared
reading to introduce vocabulary and structures. • Use small groups or partners often, to maximize
interaction and speaking time. • Have simple, natural conversations with students. • Read stories that
include simple conversations. • Have students role play approaching native speakers for conversation. •
Use shared writing to create a conversation. Students role play the conversation. • Have partners create
a conversation and role play. • Guide small group sharing of experiences and reflections by providing
key questions or tasks. • Use journal writing as a springboard or rehearsal for conversation. • Have
students choose a question from a hat and answer it, e.g., Who is your favourite singer? Why? Students
may create the questions. • Have students present on personal or reflective topics and evaluate peer
presentations. • Use activities such as “Find someone who” and surveys that ask questions re feelings,
opinions, experiences and plans. • Have students listen to and discuss a segment of video in which
characters have simple conversations, express feelings, opinions, etc. • Pair students with higher level
English Speaker schoolmates. The higher level student transcribes as the lower student tells a personal
story or reflection. The passages can be used for further reading, presentations, process writing, etc. •
Assign homework whereby students have to converse with native speakers. Consolidation • Pair
students with English L1 students for five minute conversations/ interviews; change partners and repeat.
(A social studies class may be interested in cooperating.) Both students should have prepared questions.
• Have students do mini-presentations on past experiences and future plans.

Students should be encouraged to use strategies to practise conversation skills outside class, e.g., join
extracurricular activities, find opportunities to practise conversation with school mates and teachers. To
assist students with everyday speech, create a word wall and sentence wall. Gradually add new words,
simple sentences and question forms as they are learned. Words may be categorized. Make
replacements as students demonstrate that they no longer need a particular reminder. Help reduce
affective factors that interfere with conversation (e.g., lack of confidence, concern about correctness)
through encouragement, positive feedback and a supportive environment. For paired activities with
higher level schoolmates, remind all students to speak slowly and clearly and to use plain language.