Reading to Speak: Integrating oral communication skills

READING TO SPEAK: INTEGRATING ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS. The article I chose deals about the lack of practice in speaking skill in language teaching, and although it refers to Chinese schools, I found it relevant because the situations it refers to are very similar to the ones we face in most of the schools in our country. Since a very powerful motivation to learn a second language is to be able to converse with speakers of that language, speaking seems to be the most important skill to be developed. Although, it is also a huge challenge if we take into account on the one hand, the different micro-skills that learners need to manage, which vary from pronunciation of unfamiliar words to the appropriate use of formal and informal expressions. Furthermore, the very limited chances that students have to speak English outside the classroom make things harder for them.

INTEGRATING ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS. Having a more integrated approach ensuring enough practice in oral communication by including speaking into reading and writing lessons, would be an appropriate option, which would hopefully offer important benefits. Student’s acquisition of English could be improved by taking advantage of some interesting topics for reading and writing, which would provide a chance to discuss and test their language. In order to reach this goal, teachers are expected to go beyond the traditional courses and integrate different skills during their lessons.

READING TO SPEAK. The activities presented here can helps students notice the difference between what they want to say and what they can really say, and maybe make them focus their attention on meaning first and on form later, and can be used both for intensive and extensive reading classes.
1.- Reading to act. This in an activity in which students act out a story they have just read, being encouraged to make as many changes as they want to the plot and dialogues, and it is organized