ORAL LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Elsy C. Scott
LISTENING, SPEAKING, READING AND WRITING
Purposeful Activities to Develop Oral an Written Language
- Morning routines
- Role playing routines
- Playing store or kitchen
- Retelling a story
- Using wordless books to write a story
- Songs
- Repeated Reading
These activities are better when they are done with a partner or in groups. It not only will develop oral and written language, but also students will have the opportunity to practice social skills.
BEGINNING AND INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH LEARNES
Teachers are very conscious that before implementing any type of intervention, it is most important to provide social and emotional support, especially for those students who have just arrived to the country. Even more so for those who have being through traumatic situations in their home countries.
Beginning English learners need a lot of support from teachers, peers and the student himself/herself. At the beginning would be more important to use interventions that don't involve a lot of speech, but it's more important to work in collaboration with other students. A good idea would be drawing pictures in a group project.
As these interventions are implemented with a lot of exposure to the language in a low risk environment. Gradually the student will progress to a more advanced English language proficiency,
At the Intermediate level of proficiency, students are still developing their grammatical abilities, but they are still able to communicate without hesitation. They can speak and interact with peers with a few misunderstandings. To support students a this level, the same strategies can be also used as for the beginners, but more interventions need to be incorporated, some of them are: Drama readers, theater using language more formal, serve as a peers for newcomers. The use of charts, graphic organizers, concrete experiences that convey with verbal explanations.
HOW TO PROMOTE ORAL LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN THE CLASSROOM
Students need to be engaged in a variety of tasks and have the opportunity to participate in the process of writing, literature and theme studies providing verbal and visual adaptations for English learners. More activities are described on how to promote Oral Language Development.
Games
Songs
Show and Tell
One Looks, One Doesn't
Wordless Book Stories
Choral Reading
English learners because the level of stress is very low and is enjoyable.