The most effective approach to engaging students in active speaking in a foreign language is the use of various communicative activities. The latter allows the teacher to create an environment of real communication. Spontaneous communication in the classroom occurs when the learning situation turns into a natural situation (Bachelor, 2017). This communication has the following features: its content is not always predictable; transitions from one topic to another are possible. In addition, unfamiliar or forgotten words and insufficiently learned grammar are required. During such classes, a variety of communicative strategies are applied – a foreign language is used in real action.
One exercise that can be used is to comment on proverbs and find their equivalents in students’ native Spanish. The usefulness of using proverbs and sayings in English in learning a foreign language is undeniable. Almost every person who learns English faces problems with pronunciation, poor vocabulary, slow and uncertain speech (Seraj et al., 2021). Performing this task helps to activate half-forgotten lexical and grammatical constructions. First, the teacher should show the students a list of ten suggested proverbs in English. Students may be asked to comment on how they understand the meaning of each of these sayings. This task develops spontaneous speaking skills – students have only about a minute to prepare. During this time, they are allowed to make notes in a notebook with the keywords that will be used in an oral statement.
The exercise that will be used involves practicing the social and academic language. The sayings themselves often contain information about the structure of society. In explaining their meaning, students will have to utilize words used in everyday speech. This is how social speech skills will be developed during this exercise. In addition to explaining the proverbs themselves, the teacher should ask the students what proverbs are, how they came to be, and so on. At the same time, it is important to control that the students feel the difference between explaining the meaning of the proverbs and reasoning about their essence. A slide with the words on it, which will help construct the answer, will be needed. If the teacher realizes that the students do not have much information about proverbs, it is necessary to hold a mini-lecture on this topic beforehand.
After each person has participated in the discussion, it is important that they reinforce what they have learned. To develop their writing skills, they could be asked to write an essay with the topic being a favorite proverb of the student. The length of the essay depends on how much time is left after the assignment has been completed. It is essential that while students are writing the essay, there will be phrases on the slide that will help them structure the essay. It would help if the teacher did not leave this assignment as homework. If there is enough time, students can continue to practice speaking skills – the teacher may ask them to retell the content of their essay in their own words.
Since the task requires offering equivalents of proverbs, it can be concluded that this oral activity successfully uses the connection with the native language. The teacher may ask students to comment on the similarities and differences between the two proverbs. In addition, there is a possibility that this kind of searching for equivalents contributes to a better memorization of the material. This happens on the basis of the students’ associations with their native language.
References
Bachelor, J. W. (2017). Increasing student communication and spontaneous language use in the L2 classroom: A careful consideration of the flipped classroom model. The TFLTA Journal, 6, 5-11.
Seraj, P. M. I, Habil, H., & Hasan, M. K. (2021). Investigating the problems of teaching oral English communication skills in an EFL context at the tertiary Level. International Journal of Instruction. 14(2), 501-516.