UNIT 5

CREATIVITY THE TEACHER OF ORAL SKILLS

INTRODUCTION

In this unit you will be introduced to Creativity in the teaching of oral skills, i.e. listening
and speaking.
Aims
1. To enable you to teach the oral skills competently, even when you are not
provided with necessary instructional materials.
2.. To enable you to improvise activities and materials for teaching oral English
Language skills at both the lower and upper primary levels.

Objectives
By the time you finish working through this Unit, you will be able to:
1. Define improvisation
2. Demonstrate activities, which you can use to teach listening speaking skills.
3. Design materials that you can use to teach both listening and speaking.
4. Use these activities and instructional materials to oral English skills at
Primary level.

Topic to be covered

This Unit is organised into 2 topics.

Topic 1, Creativity in general, has 2 sub-topics.

a) The need for creativity.
b) Techniques of teaching listening and speaking skills.

Topic 2, Creativity in the teaching of listening and speaking, has 3 sub-topics.

a) Introduction to creativity in teaching listening and speaking.
b) Creativity in teaching listening.
c) Creativity in teaching speaking.

TOPIC1: CREATIVITY IN GENERAL

The word creativity comes from the verb "to create". According to Oxford Advanced
Learner's Dictionary by A. S. Hornby, "to create" is to make something from whatever is
available". In this topic, creativity will be used to mean the imaginative use of the
teacher's intelligence, knowledge and skills to make and improve on available teaching
materials and activities.

ACTIVITY EL/2/5-1
Give two examples of how you have used your own creativity in your teaching

a) THE NEED FOR CREATIVITY

All humans need to develop our creative ability because we are constantly faced with
new problems. The old solutions sometimes will not work in new situations. Therefore,
we must be able to take what we have available and come up with new, creative answers
to our problems. This is especially true of teachers. Each child is different, requiring
different treatment. We face many problems for which we must find solutions. A major
problem is our lack of teaching materials. As teachers, we must learn to improvise,
create and try our own solutions.

Creativity is required to adjust our teaching to our students and to the situation. It is
required when the instructional resources (realia, supplies, equipment and printed
materials) we need to teach a lesson is not available. This may be because of the
resources are too difficult to obtain because they are exotic (not from our local area) or
too expensive to purchase. It may be because there is no proper storage space and things
get stolen or destroyed by weather or insects. Or it could be that pupils are not taught to
care for materials and they get destroyed or used up by careless treatment.

Creativity makes lessons more interesting, more realistic and clearer. For example,
pupil-made paper-bag puppets representing real characters in a story or a dialogue will
add interest to the activity and also develop pupil's artistic skills. It motivates. Pictures,
diagrams, motivate children to pay attention. Using children creativity as a resource is
motivating, i.e. to act the roles of parents, adults, officers, animals, weather elements or
machines. It provides variety in lesson presentation, generating interest and motivation.
It helps pupils to respond to unexpected situations in both the class and school
environment. It provides more practice than in is provided by just following the course
book.

It is important to note that a creative teacher can help pupils develop their imaginative
and creative skills.

ACTIVITY EL/2/5-2
Give three reasons why creativity is necessary in the teaching of an English language
lesson.

b) IMPROVISATION TECHNIQUES

When you need something that you don't have, improvising means finding a practical
substitute for the thing that is needed. Think about how you could improvise for these
needed items, if you could not get the real thing: a stove to cook on, a window glass to
replace a broken one, a wire fence to keep animals out of your vegetable garden, a chalk-
board, a lock for your door, a desk or table for each child to write, a chair or bench for
each child to sit, paper and pencil for children to practice writing and, a bat (paddle) and
a ball for games, a jump rope.
Under these circumstances, you are definitely required to be creative and to imrpovise.
The first step is to care and be interested in solving problems. The second step is to
imitate all of the ideas that you can find from other teachers and from reading. The third
step is to know what you do have that can be used. The fourth step is to try out different
combinations of ideas and of materials, using them in new ways until you find some
things that work.

Here are some ideas that may help you.

1. Carefully identify and collect any materials that might be used.

2. Look around for ideas and ask other people, including your pupils for help.
3. Experiment and try things. If they don't work, try something else.

TOPIC 2: CREATIVITY IN TEACHING LISTENING AND SPEAKING

a) INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVITY IN TEACHING LISTENING AND

SPEAKING.

Below are some ways that you can employ to be more creative when teaching listening
an speaking skills.

1. Resource persons. Invite people from your community to come to your class and
share their special talents, abilities and knowledge through telling stories, singing
songs or playing musical instruments, demonstrating arts and crafts or teaching a
game. Even if they do not speak English, you can follow up their visit with an
English lesson to teach related vocabulary, using class talks and discussions about
the activities.
2. Teacher-made materials. Make you own collection of original tongue-twisters,
rhymes, stories, games and poems that were written by you, and also collect
original works of your pupils. Keep them on separate cards in a box of in a
 notebook. Use them for teaching when the textbooks do not have enough
examples of omitting them because they are not found anywhere in available
books. Make up your own original stories to narrate to your pupils from time to
time during story-telling periods. When you create really good one, write it down
so you won't forget it.
3. Pupils experiences. Ask the pupils to compose their own tongue twisters, stories,
riddles, rhymes and poems, and have them re-tell from memory the stories
gathered from their grand-parents, other elders and their own peer-groups.
5. Existing resource materials. There are many different books from which you can
get ideas for activities and materials. Read and collect mother tongue materials
and adapt them to English.
6. Reading. Read simple storybooks to add to your stock of already known stories.
Make outline notes as you read to help you remember the stories.
7. Puppets. Make puppets of cloth, paper bags, mud or clay to represent characters
to be used in playlets, dialogues and drills. The Nile English Course Books 5-7
show how to do this very well. In the absence of ready-made and /or imported
puppets, the teacher should improvise by making them from local materials, e.g.
banana fibres, sisal fibres, grass, pieces of cloth, cardboard paper.
8. Pictures, cartoons and drawings. Have you started making your picture file
(collection of pictures)? Every teacher needs many pictures to use in language
teaching and other subjects. You can find useful cartoons, drawings and
photographs in newspapers and magazines. Coloured pictures are more attractive
to the pupils. You and your pupils can make drawings and cartoons. Keep them
in a file or a large box.
9. Role-play. In role-play, there is a guessing game in which pupils are made to
adopt the roles of other people which enables them to imagine/create.

Step One

The pupils each choose a person, either alive or dead, or an animal according to
group consensus. They keep their choices to themselves but think about a person
 or animal they have chosen, making sure they have enough information so that
they can give clues.

Step Two.

One-by-one, each child stands and talks in first person about the character chosen.
Examples: I am a boy who lived along time ago. I am shepherd. While I watch
my sheep sometimes I make up poems and songs. Sometimes I practice using my
sling-shot to scare away the wolves. Once during a big battle, I used my sling-
shot and killed a giant whose name was Goliath. (If no one guesses, they continue
to add clues: "Later I became a king, and I wrote the book of Psalms in the Bible."
and so on.

Step Three

The others take turns guessing who it is. The "speaker" continues to give clues
until someone guesses correctly. For example, a clue might be "My name begins
with a D. There is someone in this class who has the same name". The teacher
may have to give additional clues if the class cannot guess and the child cannot
think of more clues.

The correct guesser then role-plays a character and the game goes on as before.
7. Riddles. Answering riddles requires careful listening and thinking about all the
elements heard. When a child gets the correct answer ask, "How did you know it
was…? This explanation will help children who were unable to follow the clues
to learn to find answers.
8. Modelling. This is done by using clay, mud, wax, or home-made clay from flour,
salt and water to make a model of a car, a person, an animal, etc which can then
be talked about.
9. Creating learning situations. The teacher creates a situation to bring out the
meaning of a new word, like chameleon, by showing its pictures, describing it,
 talking about it, etc. This is very commonly done in teaching vocabulary or new
language items.

b) CREATIVITY IN TEACHING LISTENING.

Listening and speaking should be taught as complementary skills (skills that go to

together and support each other). Listening and speaking are the necessary foundation
for the teaching of the reading and writing skills.
(i) What is listening is

Listening means hearing and paying attention to sound. It involves the physical act of
hearing sounds, and the mental processes of recognising different sounds and giving
meaning to the sounds heard.

We listen for different reasons: for enjoyment or to get instructions and information.
We listen to many sounds other than language. We hear birds, dogs barking, wind, water
flowing, fire cracking, car motors, and babies crying. These sounds give us useful
information and we learn to distinguish among them very early in life, because listening
is a survival skill. Listening to language involves physical hearing and focussing
attention on the sounds in order to get meaning. Effective listening in terms of language,
involves the following sub-skills.

1. Recognising individual language sounds (phonemes)-vowels, diphthongs and

consonants.
2. Recognising sounds in combinations (words, phrases, sentences).
3. Recognising stress patterns.
4. Recognising intonation patterns.
5. Connecting correct meanings to all the above patterns of sound.

(ii) Listening activities.

A teacher who improvises successfully in teaching must do these things:
1. Know the teaching purpose of the activity and be sure that the "improvisation"
will reach the skill objective.
2. Have a lot of experience with many different kinds of activities.
3. Be willing to try new things and be willing to fail: know how to quit when
something isn't working and be able to start over again on a new track.
4. Know the suitable primary level or levels for different listening activities.

Below we have given you brief description of activities that you can use for teaching
language. Their success, however, depends on your creativity and imagination.

Activities for lower primary classes.

1. The clapping game

In this activity the teacher claps her / his hands. The teacher can vary the pattern by
clapping different rhythms or different number of times. The teacher then asks the
pupils to repeat the pattern, or tell how many times they heard her / him clapor hold up
the number of fingers to show the number of claps.

2. Spelling games

The teacher makes a sentence which contains two similar sounding words that is,
minimal pairs. Pupils are then asked to spell each of the two words. For example:
sea she
ship sheep
sell shell
sorts shorts
sew show
sign shine
sue shoe
3. Following instructions

Here the teacher blindfolds a pupil who is given instructions, such as: "Walk two steps
forward, turn left, walk three steps, turn right and walk two steps." The pupil is then
asked to guess her position in the class and says for example, "I am near the teacher's
desk".

4. Whispering game

A message is whispered into the ear of the first pupil in a circle. That child then whispers
the same message, as clearly and quietly as possible, to the next pupil who does the same
to the next person and so on. Finally the last pupil repeats the message to the whole
class. Is the message still the same?

5. Receiving orders.

Almost like in "Following instructions", orders are given to pupils to follow. A pupil
who listens carefully and accurately will follow the orders correctly. The game can start
with single orders and increase in difficulty through the use of double, triple and
quadruple orders. For example, pupils can be told to draw a design following
instructions. The teacher then gives instructions like:
- In the centre of your page, draw a small circle.
- Draw six small lines going away from the circle.
- Draw a box around the circle.
- Draw an X inside the circle, and so on.

6. The 'left out' object game.

Teacher shows pupils a page with pictures of various objects (or a tray with several
objects on it). They study the picture (or tray) then the picture (or tray) is covered. The
teacher then reads out the names of the objects in the picture, omitting one of them. The
pupils first try (from memory) to name the item the teacher has left out. Then they are
allowed to look and name the item. This can be repeated many times with the same
picture or tray.

7. The missing picture game

This game develops both listening (audio) and visual skills. The Teacher gives pupils or
a group of pupils a picture to study. The picture may be of a house, a classroom, a
market, etc. The teacher then tells a story about the picture. For instance, "The market is
very colourful. A woman in a busuuti is selling matooke and a young girl, moving
through the crowd of shoppers, is carrying a cup of tea to her", etc. As the teacher
speaks, the pupils study the picture and mark each person or object mentioned. At the
end of the story, the pupils name the people or the object not mentioned, but that are in
the picture.

8. Dictation

Depending on the abilities and level of the class, the teacher dictates and pupils write
what they hear.
- The teacher makes a phoneme sound and the children write the letter of letters
that make the sound.
- The teacher gives words, and the children write.
- The teacher gives a complete sentence and the children write.

Activities for upper primary classes.

Pupils in upper primary classes need to continue development of listening skills. They
can do this through activities like the ones presented below.

1. Reports
The teacher or a pupil reads or gives an oral report to the class. Pupils listen, after which
the teacher asks oral questions. Pupils may be asked to write their answers which are
discussed and checked or individuals may be asked to give oral answers. Yes-No
questions are good for this kind of listening practice because they provide a quick way of
checking on who was listening carefully. The teacher may read reports on school events
and activities such as: Sports day; Parents day; Trips; Music festival; Drama
competitions, etc. Pupils may be asked to bring in current news items and read or gibe a
summary oral report.

2. Narrative stories

The teacher narrates while pupils listen. After that, individual pupils retell the story to
the whole class or in small groups. The audience is asked to notice whether the narrator
remembered to:
- name all the characters in the story and describe them.
- Include main events of the story in correct order.
- Put the correct main idea across.

3. Puzzles/problems

The teacher presents puzzles or math problems orally to the pupils. Correct answers
should be given immediately after each one followed by asking those who made errors
what was the cause of the error? i.e. didn't hear the problem correctly, didn't know how to
do the math, didn't have enough information to answer, etc. Riddles at a higher level are
also very good for this kind of activity.

4. Radio and television programmes

The teacher presents some of the Educational Radio and Television (ERTV) Programmes
or newscasts to the pupils during broadcasting hours. Pupils listen carefully to them,
noting down important points. The teacher follows up by asking the pupils either to
answer related questions or to retell some of the main items of the broadcast.

5. Speeches of leaders

The teacher calls a local leader to address the pupils. Pupils listen to her or him carefully.
Pupils are encouraged to ask questions. (The teacher could prepare for this before the
speaker comes. Tell pupils who the speaker is and why he or she has been invited to
speak. Discuss questions that the children might want to ask this person. Later, ask the
pupils to summarise the important points of the speech in small groups and then before
the class.

6. Articles from newspaper

The teacher reads a short article to the pupils as they listen attentively. The teacher then
asks them questions to test their listening skills.

ACTIVITY EL/2/5-3
1. List four sub-skills necessary for effective listening.
2. Mention eight listening activities: four for lower primary and four for upper
primary.
3. a) Select or devise two oral texts that are appropriate for lower and upper primary
classes in terms of topic and level of difficulty.
b) Design three listening activities of your own which will give both lower and
upper primary learners the opportunity to develop their listening skills.

c) CREATIVITY IN TEACHING SPEAKING

Clear and fluent speech, with the ideas well arranged and well brought out is an art it
itself. This art has been cultivated in Africa in the past. With the coming of schools, we
should not allow the art to fall into decay. Jones (1983)
(i) Speaking skills

These are abilities to orally express oneself effectively and creatively in a target
language. Effective speaking involves the following sub-skills.

1. Correctly producing sounds, both individual sounds and sounds in combination.

2. Using stress patterns appropriately to bring out the desired meaning.
3. Using intonation patterns appropriately to bring out the desired meaning.
4. Using correct vocabulary to express intended meaning.
5. Using correct structures or combinations of words to express the intended
meaning.
6. Using effective communication skills (eye-contact, responding to audience
/listener feedback, sticking to topic, varying volume, vocabulary and register to
match audience).

(ii) What speaking involves

Similar to listening, speaking is a physical act (using body's vocal apparatus) and a
mental act (thinking required to select and produce the language needed to achieve the
speaker's purpose.) To teach speaking skills we develop the physical ability to make
sounds of English and the mental skills as well.

Speaking skills are developed by specific sound production exercises, and by talking and
responding to feedback from listeners. In school we provide speaking practice through
exercises, telling stories, repeating riddles, making oral reports, responding to questions,
acting out playlets, dialogues and role-plays and in solving puzzles and problems. Many
of these activities are part of adult life. This is important because many primary school
pupils drop out of the formal system of education at the end of primary school.

(iii) Speaking activities

We have divided the speaking activities into two groups. Those in the first group are
more suitable for lower primary classes while those in the second group are better for
upper primary classes. However, note that this classification is not rigid. There are some
activities that cut across the boundaries and can be used at either level. As you study
them, note those activities which are useful at both levels.

Activities for lower primary classes.

1. Tongue-twisters.

These are speaking exercises in which the same sounds occur at the beginning of two or
more words in succession. Tongue-twisters are found in all languages as we shall see in
some examples below.

Here are some examples of tongue-twisters in English

1. She sells se shells by the sea shore.
2. Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
3. Tom's tom-tom record plays tom-tom music.

Here are examples of tongue twister in some Ugandan languages.

1. "Daudi dda e Buddo obudde obudda e Buddo butuuse." (Luganda) Meaning that
"Daudi go back to Buddo. It is time to go back to Buddo."
2. "Thuth thon I thigo" (Dhopadhola) Meaning: "There are many weevils in the
door."
3. Akasisi nyabuthatwa katahatwa orakatahasire. Okakakatahata kwaza kukatahata
akaata. (Runyankole/Rukiga) Meaning: A gourd which is never lifted is lifted by
the only one who lifted it. Anyone one who has never lifted it before if he
attempts to do so, breaks it'
There are many more tongue-twisters in both English and local languages. You will
realise that when L1 tongue-twisters are translated into English, they lose qualities of the
tongue-twisters. Therefore, they must be practised in L1 not English. Tongue-twisters are
used to develop the ability to make particular sounds.

2. Minimal pairs

As you listen to your pupils pronouncing English, you will hear them making
pronunciation errors. Make a list of common errors that you hear and develop a minimal
pairs list to use in correcting the errors.
For example, you may hear the following:
- I leave in a village (meaning I live in a village.)
- I have tree pencils. (meaning, I have three pencils.)

Make flash cards by writing one word from the minimal pair list on each card. Do class
drills by holding up a card and having class and individuals pronounce it correctly.

You can use the same cards for a listening drill. Give instructions: "Hold up your hand if
I say the correct word to match the card."

Hold up a card (i.e. leave) and pronounce either the correct word, or its minimal pair. If
you pronounce the minimal pair, word, instead of the word on the card no one should
raise their hand.

Watch to see which pupils are not able to hear the difference. Work with them in small
groups until they can hear and pronounce the sounds correctly.

3. Rhymes, short stories about events of the day, telling news, short
conversations and dialogues, and explaining pictures.
These are good activities for encouraging children to talk. Memorising and reciting
poems and rhymes helps children who are not yet fluent enough for free, unstructured
talking. Pupils can tell short stories about what has happened on that particular day. This
provides topics that interest children. For example.

1. What happened to you, your friend, daddy, or mummy yesterday?

2. Tell about an accident, celebration of something else that has taken place.
3. Tell the class the news concerning anything that you have witnessed or heard
from radio, TV, local gossip, etc.

Have "Show and Tell" one morning each week. Children are to bring an object to school
and tell the class about it.

Children like to interpret what they see in a picture. This activity gives practice in
observation and speaking skills. Prompt them with questions, if necessary: "Who do you
see? Where are they? What are they doing? How do they feel? What will happen next?

4. Sequence game

This game involves minimising a series of activities, e.g. pouring tea into a cup, putting
sugar in a stirring the tea, pouring it on to a saucer to cool, and then pouring it back into
the cup. The pupils are asked to describe what they have seen in the sequence.
Sequences help pupils to organise their ideas logically.

5. Re-telling stories

In this activity pupils re-tell stories told by either teacher or fellow pupils.

6. What happened next?

In this activity the teacher starts by telling a story like; "I was wandering past the market
when I saw a lion climbing a tree. So I stopped and spoke to the lion, and …." The
teacher stops here, and calls on a pupil to complete the sentence. The pupil ends by
saying, "and then …….", and leaves the sentence to be completed by another pupil, and
so on. The game goes on until every pupil is involved. The story need not necessarily be
sensible; nonsense stories encourage imagination and guarantee interest. This activity
develops concentration and thought co-ordination as well as speaking and listening skills.

7. Reading aloud

Reading aloud requires speaking skills as well as reading skills. It is a sub-skill of

speaking because it involves speech production to be listened to. Teachers of English,
need to be able to read aloud with a high level of skill in order to provide a good model
for their pupils. When practising reading aloud, or teaching it to your pupils, pay close
attention to;
- pronunciation
- pace (the quickness and slowness of voice)
- pitch (the highness and lowness of the voice)
- timbre (the quality of the voice)
- voice projection and volume (not standing but loud enough to be heard by all the
listeners).
- Intonation (the rising and falling of the voice).
- Tone (the way one sounds in bringing out feelings).
- Body language (facial expressions, gestures, movements, pauses, silences,
postures).

Activities for upper primary classes.

In addition to those mentioned above that are also suitable for P1 and P2, these activities
should be emphasised for upper primary classes:
1. Role play 2. Dramatisation.
3. Recitation. 4. Story telling.
5. Debating 6. Short speeches
7. Using pictures 8. Conversation/dialogues.
9. Discussions. 10. Impromptu speeches
11. Short poems.

ACTIVITY EL/2/5-4
1. List the sub-skills necessary for effective speaking.
2. Mention six speaking activities -three for lower primary, three for upper
primary.
3. a) Design three speaking activities for you to use for a lesson of 30 or 40
minutes in which the aim is to help develop the oral skills of lower or
upper primary class pupils.
b) Try this lesson with a class and write a brief evaluation report on your
lesson.

SUMMARY

In this Unit, you learnt about;

- creativity in general
- creativity in the teaching of listening and speaking.

PRACTICE EXERCISE EL/2-5

1.. Supporting your answer with concrete examples, explain why creativity
is very important in the teaching/learning of the listening and speaking
skills. Indicate the level of your choice.
2.. a) List ten listening activities and ten speaking activities that you
would use in teaching these skills.
b) Choose any three of the activities you have listed and briefly
explain how you would use them in classroom teaching.