2 Unit 2 Meet and Greet
One misty, moisty morning, When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to meet an old man, clothed all in leather.
He began to compliment, And I began to grin,
How do you do, And how do you do, And how do you do, again?
– traditional nursery rhyme
Teacher to teacher:
ELL students are nervous and often speak too quickly when asked to give their name. Some hope to be invisible, and let others, especially you, the expert English speaker, do all the talking.
Don’t let this happen! Make sure every student knows they will have the opportunity to speak. Yes, it’s exhausting and often tedious to make sure all the shy students get to speak, and not just listen to their more outgoing classmates. You will hear the same sentences over and over and over. Just DO IT, Level 1 teacher! Your students will thank you (eventually).
I’m big on jokes, so I tell my students they’re doing “tongue yoga” as they enunciate both familiar and unfamiliar words.
These practices teach students to speak slowly and clearly pronounce names that may be unfamiliar to any English speaker.
These activities also teach students how to take turns in a conversation.
Anxious students often misinterpret your direction to “read aloud” one part in a two-person conversation, believing that they must rapidly blast through every sentence. Remind your students to listen for understanding before they attempt to respond.
Speaking aloud is nerve-wracking, thus an underdeveloped skill for anyone who learned English through silent reading, or listening to the artificially slowed down English speech performed by professional voice actors with neutral accents.
Best Practices:
The “spell your name letter-by-letter” activity is engaging for all beginners. It gives everyone the opportunity to correctly pronounce the English vowels [ a-e-i-o-u ]. These letters are pronounced differently in other languages, like Spanish or Portuguese, while your Asian students may have no experience of English phonemes at all. I use this task as a quick way of assessing the class’s need for future pronunciation activities. Minimal Pair practices, e.g., “sheep” vs. “ship” can be great no-preparation speaking warmers that focus on vowels. Beginning English speakers need as many chances to wrap their tongues around vowels, consonants, syllables and segments as you care to give them.
Given the importance of digital literacy in the real life, the conventions of speaking aloud the symbols, e.g., @, used in an email address must also be learned. Additionally, give the students a daily opportunity to speak aloud a phone number, with area code. Teach the pause between chunks of numbers, e.g., “2-oh-6, pause, 1-2-3, pause 4-5, pause, 6-7.”
Finally, teach your students to make eye contact with the other person in a conversation, and not look at you, the teacher.
Insist that any question addressed to a classmate begins with that person’s first name, e.g., “Diana, what is your last name?” It’s important for the students in the class to bond as a group, and this forces listening for understanding, not seeking refuge in rote memorization. They can’t bond unless they’ve learned people’s names.
Yes, some students assume that they can only learn English by speaking to you. Break this misunderstanding as soon as possible.
Unit 2 Meet and Greet handouts [core speaking and listening skills].
How are you today speaking practice
Conversation Practice spell letter by letter
