What strategies do you find most effective for building student confidence in speaking English?
9 answers from our tutors
Best answer
I encourage my students to make recordings of their speaking sessions and revisit them later. I am convinced that this approach to self-assessment allows them to track their progress and find areas for growth, which can really uplift their confidence:)
If it's a group activity, I find it really engaging and helpful to organize debates on a certain topic. To make it a bit easier, I tend to give some "scaffolding", phrases that they might use during the discussion, like: I see your point but, I can't agree more, I will have to disagree, let's agree to disagree, etc. If it's an individual lesson, I will usually create comfortable atmosphere, I will listen attentively and ask follow-up questions, I might even argue a bit, if the student feels comfortable enough. It really depends on the situation.
- Mohamed IbrahimExpert teacher of Arabic and English for all ages معلم معتمد للغة العربية والإنجليزية
Discussion
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By creating a safe, supportive environment as to encourage them to speak without fear of making mistakes, providing positive feedback to reinforce their efforts. Also regular conversation practice, especially on topics they enjoy, can ease anxiety and make speaking feel natural.
I would use role play activities it is fun and it also builds confidence in speaking English.
Give students chances to speak as much as possible weather they speak with correct grammar or not. Indulge them in speaking activities for instance dialogue, debate and story telling. In addition students' grammatical errors should not be rectified while speaking. later on their errors should be rectified. I think this way they build confidence in some degree.
Speak a lot of speak. Doing it we can overcome uncertainty and other doubts. And the next is to practice English in Episoden. This is a really helpful platform.
Many students believe that there is only one way to say things, and that they must use specific words. NOT TRUE! A normal everyday conversation between native English speakers, will show that this cannot be further from the truth. I teach students how to paraphrase. It is something that native English speakers do every day, and we tutors simply do not teach it. Shameful! With a lot of encouragement, and I mean a lot of encouragement, in the beginning, students start to paraphrase. Years upon year it has been drummed into them that they have to use specific words, and are very disbelieving of you (The native English speaking tutor!) that this not the case. Once your students embrace paraphrasing, they find spoken English becomes more nimble, and they realise speaking can be fun. When something becomes great fun, it is easier to do. If students find speaking English fun and easy, their confidence soars and they want to speak more. Like what you have read? Why not book a lesson.
1. Create a Supportive Environment 2. Use Engaging Activities like: role-plays 3. Provide constructive Feedback
Other student questions
Best answer
.Don’t worry about making mistakes. It’s part of the learning process. Remind yourself that it takes time to learn a language. If you learn a word or a structure today, that’s a win. Celebrate small wins. Aim for improvement not perfection. -I always tell my students these things.
- What advice can you give to someone who has difficulty memorizing vocabulary?TTmina
Best answer
I have my students use a set amount of new vocabulary words to create and tell a story. This not only encourages creativity but also allows them to practice using the words in context, enhancing retention:)
