Calamus, Iowa TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

Unit 12 goes over the teaching of the productive skills of speaking and writing. Both are skills that are important for getting students to communicate. When teaching speaking skills, teachers want to make note of accuracy and fluency. Both are important, and there are different activities that focus on either accuracy, fluency, or a little bit of both. There are controlled activities that are accuracy focused where the teacher controls the language. There are guided activities that focus on accuracy with room for creativity. There are also creative communication activities that focus on fluency in which the output is not controlled by the teacher. Students may not want to speak for various reasons like lack of confidence or intimidation, but the teacher should focus on making a comfortable atmosphere to help encourage students to speak. Pair-work or group-work along with practice is very important for students when learning and practicing speaking skills. Writing skills are also very important in communication. When teaching writing, teachers want to focus on things like students' spelling, layout, punctuation, and even handwriting. It is important to give students enough practice and to encourage them to write more often. Much like with speaking, teachers must try to be encouraging when teaching writing even though it may be difficult. Games are also useful sometimes when incorporated into teaching. There are competitive games and co-operative games. They can be used to help keep students engaged and interested during the lesson.