Teaching Speaking
What I Agree with Jeremy Harmer
By Claudia Elena Mora-Sandí
Pre-Service Teacher, School of English
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Post 265
After reading
Chapter 9 from Harmer’s (2007) book, “How
to Teach English,” which deals with speaking,
I have come to realize that the speaking skill is the most important part of
learning a language. The purpose of this skill is to get people to communicate
and transmit thoughts, feelings, ideas, and so on. It is then very important
for teachers to pay attention to students in terms of speaking, if they are
participating or not and if they have difficulties or not.
Why should instructors teach speaking? The reason
seems to be evident; it is because we teachers want students to experience with
rehearsal opportunities such as role plays to practice the language they are
learning. The experience can have students feel less afraid to participating in
the safety of the classroom. It also needs to be considered that because of the
speaking tasks in which students try to use any or all of the language they
know, the whole situation provides feedback for both the teacher and students. The
more opportunities students have to activate the various elements of language
they have learned, the easier the use of these elements will be.
I agree with everything this chapter written by Harmer
(2207) says, especially because I am a brand new teacher getting to practice
what I have been studying for almost three years. Activities need to catch
students’ attention; they need to motivate learners. These learning moments
should be engaging and clear for the students; they need to have a purpose that
students can relate to their lives.
In order to make students learn, speaking activities
have to prompt them to apply what “speaking as skill” is. It is that if there
is a speaking task, the only way to be able to achieve is is speaking. I also
agree that teachers should not correct the students a lot, because they will
lose their motivation. If a student sees that every time he speaks he commits a
mistake, he will stop participating.
In conclusion, teachers have to be very careful when
students are speaking. They need to know how to encourage them and also, what
things make them afraid to participate in order to improve their speaking.
References
Harmer, J. (2007). “Teaching speaking”. How to teach
English Essex: Pearson.
Tuesday, May 03, 2016
This one is good. keep up the good work!..
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