Suggestions For Teachers in Teaching Speakin

Here are some suggestions for English language teachers while teaching oral language:

• Provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the target language by providing a rich environment that contains collaborative work, authentic materials and tasks, and shared knowledge.
• Try to involve each student in every speaking activity; for this aim, practice different ways of student participation.
• Reduce teacher speaking time in class while increasing student speaking time. Step back and observe students.
• Indicate positive signs when commenting on a student's response.
• Ask eliciting questions such as "What do you mean? How did you reach that conclusion?" in order to prompt students to speak more.
• Provide written feedback like "Your presentation was really great. It was a good job. I really appreciated your efforts in preparing the materials and efficient use of your voice…"
• Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very often while they are speaking. Correction should not distract student from his or her speech.
• Involve speaking activities not only in class but also out of class; contact parents and other people who can help.
• Circulate around classroom to ensure that students are on the right track and see whether they need your help while they work in groups or pairs.
• Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need in speaking activities.

Diagnose problems faced by students who have difficulty in expressing themselves in the target language and provide more opportunities to practice the spoken language.

Suggestions For Teachers in Teaching Speaking

Here are some suggestions for English language teachers while teaching oral language:

• Provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the target language by providing a rich environment that contains collaborative work, authentic materials and tasks, and shared knowledge.
• Try to involve each student in every speaking activity; for this aim, practice different ways of student participation.
• Reduce teacher speaking time in class while increasing student speaking time. Step back and observe students.
• Indicate positive signs when commenting on a student's response.
• Ask eliciting questions such as "What do you mean? How did you reach that conclusion?" in order to prompt students to speak more.
• Provide written feedback like "Your presentation was really great. It was a good job. I really appreciated your efforts in preparing the materials and efficient use of your voice…"
• Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very often while they are speaking. Correction should not distract student from his or her speech.
• Involve speaking activities not only in class but also out of class; contact parents and other people who can help.
• Circulate around classroom to ensure that students are on the right track and see whether they need your help while they work in groups or pairs.
• Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need in speaking activities.

Diagnose problems faced by students who have difficulty in expressing themselves in the target language and provide more opportunities to practice the spoken language.

12 CIRI GURU MERDEKA

Silahkan mengenali ciri guru yang merdeka dibawah ini, mudah-mudahan membantu mengenali jati diri kita sebagai guru.
Guru yang merdeka adalah guru yang;
1. Mengenal siswa minat dan bakatnya serta kelebihannya
2. Memberikan kesempatan kepada siswa untuk tahu siapa diri kita sebagai individual
3. Tidak mahal senyum pada siswa
4. Membuat siswa mau terlibat dalam aktivitas sekolah (diluar jam pelajaran)
5. Mau meluangkan waktu diluar jam mengajar untuk membantu dan mendengar siswa
6. Memberikan penjelasan saat memberikan penilaian pada tugas siswa
7. Mau menjelaskan alasan dari tindakan yang dilakukannya
8. Mau memberikan waktu untuk menjawab pertanyaan siswa bahkan yang paling sulit sekalipun.
9. Meghubungkan pembelajaran yang dilakukannya ke dunia nyata
10. Minta maaf jika bersalah
11. Memberikan tugas yang tidak semata-mata sukar untuk dikerjakan, tapi juga yang menantang dan berguna demi masa depan siswa.
12. Bersikap enerjik, antusias dalam kesehariannya dan terlihat sekali mencintai pekerjaannya.

GAMES FOR LANGUAGE CLASS Vol. 2

WHO AM I?

Objectives:

To give students an opportunity to practice constructing questions in the target language.

Procedure:

1.  Make 3x5 cm sized cards.

2.  Write down the names of famous people such as celebrities, singers, comedians, politicians, teachers, etc.

3.  Stick a card onto each student's forehead so that they cannot see their own identity.

4.  One by one, in turn, they ask each other about their own identity.

5.  They can ask questions such as "Am I a singer?" "Am I a woman?" etc. If the answer to the question is "yes", they continue asking other members. If the answer to the question is "no", they have to stop and another member starts asking their identity to other members of the group.

6.  They compete to see who is the fastest to find their identity.

WHISPERING

Objective:

This game aims to assist students with memorizing vocabulary and the spelling of words, and also to give them a chance to use the vocabulary correctly.

Procedures:

1.  Divide the class into groups.

2.  Ask the students to stand in rows.

3.  each group has a leader who receives the message from the teacher.

4.  The leaders then whisper the message or words from the teacher to their members.

5.  The last member at the end of the line notes down the message whispered.

6.  The teacher makes correction to the words or sentences in the message noted down by each group.

7.  Those having correct answers win the game.

Tips:

Change the leader and the order of students to give variations.

IDENTIFYING WORDS IN A SONG

Objective:

To give variety in listening practice. This activity is intended for the students to be able to identify words being uttered.

Procedures:

1.  Write down some words from a song (unpopular song) on some cards.

2.  Put the cards on the whiteboard.

3.  Divide the class into some groups.

4.  While the song is being played, one by one the members of the groups compete to grab the word being uttered in the song.

5.  If one grabs the correct card, he/she must return to the group and the other member must be prepared for the next card.

6.  The group that collect the most cards is the winner.

ADD A WORD

Objective:

To help the students practice their grammar and speaking.

Procedures:

1.  Divide the class into groups.

2.  One student begins with one word.

3.  Another student adds another one word.

4. The next student adds another one word until they make a sentences.

5.  If one sentence is complete, one student says "full stop."

6.  Start again the game with another word to make another sentence.

7.  All members note down all the complete sentences.

8.  At last each group presents the sentences to the class.

adopted from Serba-serbi Pengajaran Bahasa Buku Pertama, EF Press, June 2009.
IMRON ZARKASYI

GAMES FOR LANGUAGE CLASS Vol. 1

Learning a new language can sometimes be very frustrating. Why? Because sometimes it is very difficult to understand the structure or vocabulary, or sometimes we do not have enough chance to practice it. Sometimes we feel there is no friend to practice with. And there are many other things which may cause that kind of feeling.

If learning a language can be done in a very relaxing and fun way, it will help a lot to understand the language more easily.

In the classroom context, a teacher should pay attention to the above-mentioned problems that learners may have. One way to overcome learning obstacles is by adopting various teaching techniques, or using language games as part of the classroom activities. This could be effective in giving students a new learning experience, by learning the new language in a fun and relaxing way.

However, a teacher needs to be selective when choosing language games. A teacher should be able to select which games are suitable or communicative enough to present a certain language point or topic.

The following are some examples of games which are useful for classroom activities. However, the effectiveness of these games can also depend on the creativeness of the teacher, since some adaptation to the classroom situation and materials is generally needed.

All examples in the following games refer to English classroom activities, however, they can also be applied in other foreign language classes.

DOG AND BONE

Students sit in two rows facing each other. A ball or something similar is placed between the two rows. Each student is then given a number or word, corresponding to a student on the opposite side. When the teacher mentions a number or word, for example "5" or "apple", the students who have that attribute try to grab the ball placed in between the lines, and then get back to their seats without being touched by the opposing players.

ALPHABET CARDS

This is a vocabulary / warm up game that will help the students to think in English. This activity can also be used to help the students recall vocabulary they have learned.

Materials
A pack of alphabet cards. Teachers can also make these cards themselves and then write a big-enough letter of alphabet on each card.

How to Play
1. Put students into groups.
2. Mix up the alphabet cards.
3. Write the category that will be played on the whiteboard, one category at a time.
4. Show the students one card at a time.
5. Considering the category written on the whiteboard, students must compete to shout out a word that begins with that letter.

Example
If the category is "Present Tense Verbs" and the teacher shows the students the letter "B", they can shout out BREAK or BEAT to win the card, but if they shout out BROKEN or BANANA, then they get no card.
Whoever responds first with the correct answer wins the card for their team. Whichever team has the most cards at the end wins the round.

WORD CHAINS

Objectives
This game is intended to stimulate students to use English and identify word classification and refresh their surface vocabulary.

Procedure
1. Divide the class into groups of 4 or 5.
2. Three or four groups compete in front of the class by writing on the whiteboard.
3. Each member of the group holds a piece of their whiteboard marker.
4. The teacher gives the first word.
5. Students, based on the last letter of the given word compete to write as many new words as they can.
6. The group that writes the most words wins the game.

Example
The word given is ELEPHANT of which the last letter is T. So, the students may write a word such as TEACHER, and then continue writing another word starting with the letter R, and so on.

Tips
Time should be limited, and it is better to classify the words to be played such as nouns, adjectives, professions, past verbs, adverbs, etc.

COLLECTING INFORMATION

Objective
To get the students used to thinking in English using some English question patterns.

Procedure
1. Students are given a piece of card containing a self identity.
2. The cards should be distributed randomly.
3. The teacher tells the students that they have been separated because of a volcanic eruption or other natural disasters. Then they have to find the rest of their family members to get together again.
4. Students have to try to find their family members based on the information on the card they have been given.

AIR-WRITE

One person writes letters, words, numbers, shapes, etc. in the air and others guess what it is. This can be done in pairs, as a group, or along a chain.
This can also be played as back-write that is, writing the letters/word/...on the back of another student and they guess what it is.

CHAIN STORY

Objectives
To stimulate students to construct sentences by writing and to get the students to express their imagination in the target language.

Procedure
1. Divide the class into groups. Make sure the groups are not too big to keep the game running effectively and efficiently.
2. Each group is given a piece of paper. On that paper the teacher writes one sentence that functions as the first sentence of a story.
3. Tell the students that they are supposed to continue the sentence on the paper and compose a story.
4. The first member of the group writes one sentence or two. Then he/she passes the paper to the second member. The second member writes another sentence to continue the previous sentences, and the passes the paper to the third member, and so on until they make up a version of their own story.
5. Finally, each group makes a presentation of their group story to the whole class.


adopted from Serba-serbi Pengajaran Bahasa Buku Pertama, EF Press, June 2009.
IMRON ZARKASYI

Jangan Pernah Menyerah

assalamu'alaikum para guru bahasa inggris.
Tantangan kita semakin berat menghadapi anak didik kita yang punya modal minim dan motivasi rendah dalam belajar bahasa inggris. nah...blog ini mencoba untuk menyajikan berbagai hal untuk meningkatkan kualitas proses belajar mengajar dikelas sekaligus sebagai referensi bagi guru bahasa inggris untuk terus perpacu ke arah profesionalisme guru. sehingga tidak ada kata sulit untuk mendesign pembelajaran yang komunikatif. dengan harapan kita dapat menghasil output yang luarbiasa bagi anak didik kita. dan tak ada lagi kata sulit dalam pembelajaran bahasa inggris. dalam situasi dan kondisi apapun.