How to Practice Speaking in World Language Class
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Are you always looking for ways to practice speaking in your World Language Classroom? Do you ever struggle to get students to speak in class? Are students nervous to speak in the target language, or reluctant to complete speaking activities? While native or heritage learners beg for opportunities to speak in the target language, and beginning level students are still excited to try using everything they’ve learned, there are certain levels and courses that just dread speaking. While speaking activities work best in tandem with reading and listening activities to support comprehensible input, I always like to sprinkle in as many activities as I can to get students using the target language. Many of my students spend Sunday dinners with Italian- or Spanish-speaking grandparents, or regularly visit Québec with their families, so I prioritize creating opportunities for them to practice speaking and using what they know! The more opportunities I create for them, the less intimidated they are to use the target language, mistakes and all.
Here are my favorite strategies and activities for increasing speaking opportunities in my classroom!
1. I speak openly and neutrally about language proficiency and making mistakes
When I speak to students about the skills they need to complete a particular task or lesson, I always use language directly from the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. I find that speaking often and neutrally about what each language level looks and sounds like helps students to feel more empowered to try to use and stretch their language skills. More importantly, they feel less afraid of making mistakes, because we explicitly discuss that there is room for all manner of skills and mistakes at any level! My students are now extremely self-aware of what their language skills are, and even what proficiency range they fall in. Moreover, I often have them evaluate themselves and others according to the Proficiency Guidelines and discuss what their strengths and opportunities were. While they are certainly not ACTFL OPI Testers, and neither am I, I love to hear them engage with this language and become aware of what each level looks like, including the fact that making mistakes is normal and a part of language learning! If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to display or discuss the ACTL Proficiency Levels, check out our ACTFL Posters!
2. I give them activities that are appropriate to their maturity and language level
Because beginning language courses often engage in basic levels of language, it can be hard to find age-appropriate activities for older students. A lot of what I find for Levels 1 and 2 is not quite right for my high school students. For example, sometimes an activity is authentic but geared towards a younger audience, or has cartoon-ish or childish characters or fonts that my high schoolers balk at. What’s more, an activity that is perfect for one class can be far too easy for an Honors-level course. It can be tough to find just the right activity that matches the maturity and language level of your students! That’s why I love activities that can be easily modified.
One of my favorite activities to use and modify for a wide range of courses and students are these character speaking cards. They include 29 different characters with unique information listed for each one, and they can easily be modified to suit a wide range of student ages and language levels. Students in beginning levels can simply use the cards to converse about basic personal information, while more advanced students can share information in full sentences or paragraphs, or even describe what a given character did, would do, or will do in a specific situation related to a skill in their current unit of study.
If I’m doing the activity as a quick warm up, I can just have students share their name and phone number. If I am using it as a whole lesson, I can have students share and practice with their characters’ name, email address, nationality, telephone number, personality, height, eye color, hair color, age, birthday, family, and favorite activities, color, and food. If these concepts are too difficult or too easy, I can have students create or make up additional information about their characters based on the information provided, such as their class schedule or extra-curricular activities. I can have students pair up and exchange information, or have them share one character and fill in the information together. The possibilities are endless! Practicing the future tense? Throw this prompt on the board: based on your character’s interests, describe what they will do tomorrow after school. Maybe you’re reviewing the conditional mood! Try based on where your character lives and what they like to do, how and where would they spend a long weekend?
The thing I love most about these character speaking cards? They feature line drawings of a diverse group of teenagers. That’s right - no cartoons, just realistic depictions of teenagers. My students have shared that the characters themselves are their favorite part about the cards!
3. I put visual cues that are easy to see and reference
I always make sure that students have to do as little “guess work” as possible. Our character speaking cards come with printed questions to prompt students as to how to discuss personal information with their peers, as well as a display slide to put up at the front of the room. This also allows for easy scaffolding ahead of time or in the moment. I find that if I give students these visual clues about how to move their conversation along, they are more likely to stick to the target language.
4. I “create the scene”
This is where you can get fun and creative! Whenever I can, I try to hype students up about whatever we’re doing or learning. Sometimes if I plan to use the character speaking cards in the next lesson, I’ll tell students, “tomorrow during class we’re going to the airport!” I’ll put a picture of an airport on the SmartBoard and play “musak” through the speakers, and then assign students to be travel agents. Some students sit at desks and ask the questions, while others rotate around the room and answer. I’ll give travel agents whatever stamps or stickers I have, or just a fancy pen to write their signature on their peers’ papers. Just giving them a fun role-playing situation automatically creates a more dynamic atmosphere, and you would not believe how many kiddos take on an entirely different persona of goofy toughness as they give their classmates stickers for answering questions about themselves. At the end of class, I always ask for shout-outs: “Which of your classmates was the most professional…toughest…nicest?” They erupt in raucous cries that “Joe made me say my phone number THREE TIMES!” There are tons of great “scenes” you can set!
5. I create as much flexibility for myself as I can
As a teacher, you know that schedules and lessons often do not go according to plan. Part of why I love these character speaking cards is because they give me lots of flexibility. Not only can they easily integrate into many units of study (personal information, likes/dislikes, activities, future tense, the list goes on!), but they work great as a stand-alone activity! At the start of the year, I print and laminate the set and some blank info cards (did you know you can write and erase on laminated paper with a whiteboard marker?) and then have them in my desk to grab for a quick activity. For example, sometimes I only have half the class because the sophomores are at a special assembly – so I need a free-standing activity that spirals in old content without covering anything new. Sometimes my high-flying students are done early and ask for something else to do when I have nothing prepared. Grab the character cards! Often we are practicing a new skill or tense and I’m tired of having students describe themselves - so I have them describe one of the characters! Sometimes students don’t have their Chromebooks; so, I use the printed version. Sometimes the printer is broken; so, students use the digital copy on their Chromebooks. Sometimes students or courses need more or less support; so, I use the version with the data filled in or empty depending on what I need. There’s a ton of versatility!
Whether you’re looking to practice speaking for a specific unit of study or just trying to integrate more speaking opportunities into your unit plans, these character cards will work great. How do you get your students speaking? Comment below!
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