SHAKESPEARE SCHOOL FROM TEACHERS TO TEACHERS
FIRST ISSUE
CREATIVE IDEAS AFRAID OF SPEAKING IN PUBLIC? Did you know that our number one fear is not death? But fear of speaking in public! Addressing a crowd, no matter how big or small, seems quite scary. It can be nerve-racking, but, there is always a but, you can overcome this fear. By taking small steps. Here are some of the ideas that can be used with students to help them talk in English and without them knowing, to help them learn how to take a stand and speak in public.
FUN ACTIVITIES TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS
MEMORIES In order to play “memories” each student takes an object from the hat and tries to relate to it, either by referring to personal experience or imaginary ones. For example, you can start by saying “Whenever I see a chopstick I think of” or “Chopsticks remind me of ..”.
TONGUE TWISTERS Project a list of tongue twisters on the board; invite one member from each team to have a seat in front of the class; one student will be the reader, the other one the conductor, giving instructions on how to read, slowly, fast, very fast, loudly, then swap roles.
Debates, THE HISTORY OF Make a selection of objects, put them in a hat; invite each pair of students to take one; allow two-three minutes to think of the history of that respective object, you can give them helping words, you can also play a short video of “How it’s made” as a demonstration, tell the children you will give points for originality, not accuracy. STORIES
interviews, talk shows, tongue twisters, chain stories will help your students overcome their fear of public speaking.
I thought that maybe this time we could create a chain story by giving the children the end line, not the starting one Create a one word chain story: divide the class into two teams, have them sit in circles; one student starts by saying a word ‘I”, the one sitting next to him continues “went”, then the next and so one, without repeating what the other person said, continue for about 2 minutes without interruptions; when you press the buzzer, the two teams stop and tell each other their stories. The children receive a short story on which they will work in pairs; they must substitute the key words in bold with the word “oink” and read the story to the class; the rest of the class tries to guess and write down those key words
DOUBLE PLUS FIGURES Have children read a short fragment of a play; give two minutes to prepare to act it out; in pairs they come in front of the class; one will sit down on a chair, while the other one kneels down behind the chair and becomes his partner’s hands; act out the fragment using as many gestures as you can
IMPROVISATION Have children stand in two concentric circles, facing each other; at one point, teacher calls out a word e.g “balloon”; the children must start a conversation with the person in front of them in which they must include the respective word; they cannot however ask any questions during the conversation, they must agree, disagree or comment; they talk for one minute and then T presses the buzzer which means they must change places
DISCUSSION BINGO Create a bingo chart with various statements e.g “It’s easier for girls to learn foreign languages ”, divide the class into teams and have them call out a number or roll the dice; behind that number there is a statement which must be debated; if they can talk about it for one minute, they get the number; continue until one team gets three numbers in a row and calls out bingo