Have you ever taken part in an English role-play? If your answer is yes, I’m sure you will agree with me that acting is an art. I mean it’s not easy to act naturally, to speak fluently, and to use nonverbal cues reasonably. Yesterday we took the mid-term speaking exam. Each group made a role-play using the functions we had learnt. Our group’s performance was about the conversation among 5 family members to reach the final decision where to go for a vacation.
Therefore, we used some expressions such as:
* Giving an opinion:
- We think Paris is better.
- According to this article, there’s a strong chance that the weather in Paris will be nice.
- In my opinion, Japan is suitable for all of us.
- I’d say that Japan is our final destination.
* Asking for an opinion:
- Paris is so beautiful, isn’t it?
- How do you feel about it?
- What do you think, Honey?
* Expressing agreement:
- I always agree with you.
- That’s exactly what I think.
- That’s for sure.
- I agree with our children.
- I couldn’t agree with them more.
* Expressing disagreement:
- I’m afraid we can’t.
- I don’t think it’s a good idea.
- No way.
* Talking about past events:
It takes me back the happy time when your father and I climbed Phanxipang Mountain together…
* Talking about plans and schedules:
- We’re going to have a week off in May.
- Your parents are planning to have a vacation and I’d like to go with them.
- We are planning to visit Paris.
* Talking about what might happen:
- We will surely have a romantic honeymoon.
- …, there’s a strong chance that the weather in Paris will be nice.
- I’m sure we will have a great time together.
* Making invitations:
- Why don’t we go there?
* Giving compliments:
- An, you’re so cute, kind and generous.
Because we were the first group to perform, I felt a little nervous. As a result, when I was acting, sometimes the words seemed to fly away and it took me some pauses to make up another ones. That’s one of my problems. The lack of confidence can also lead to low voice and unnatural actions so it’s important that I try harder to be more confident. Although during the performance our group members made some mistakes of pronunciation, grammar…, I satisfied with our work because I knew that everyone had put much effort into it. This was also an opportunity to learn from other groups.
1/ Flying Kites: They really impressed me by creative situation and funny actions. To me, all was great, except a few trivial mistakes like “í lộn” or “one roses” (but they self corrected)…
2/ Happy family: Their role-play gave the debate on pollution. Many functions were used and everyone’s pronunciation was good. I just wondered why Ms. Huyền sometimes looked at the ceiling while talking with her friends.
3/ Viva VN: What a pity that I couldn’t concentrate on their performance because I agreed to record video for Mr. Như Anh’s group. Though I didn’t understand the whole story, I could say that almost all of them had good pronunciation.
4/ 3 snakes and 1 cat: I was surprised by the story ending. It’s so coincidental. It was such an interesting story; however, sometimes low voice made it hard to follow the storyline.
5/ All for one: Their story was at the height when the robbery happened. We just couldn’t stand laughing. Nevertheless, I think that the narration in the beginning was not really necessary and when telling the story, Mr. Vinh kept staring at the floor.
6/ Born to shine with “Rumor” gave us a funny and meaningful story. Again, the low voice made it difficult to understand the story completely.
Those are my own opinions. In addition, according to Mr. Bình, here are some mistakes we made:
* Use of functions: Some groups used many functions, but some didn’t. There were some cases where we used wrong functions.
* Pronunciation: TERRIBLE. Some students lacked the final sounds and made spelling mistakes.
* Grammatical mistakes: For example: Let I tell you.
* Other mistakes: Low voice and problems with eye contact.
As far as I’m concerned, every group had its own strong and weak points but the most important thing is that everyone tried his/ her best.
:::Yến Như:::
[edited by Thuy Vy]
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
F5's Presentation
After our presentation, F5 discussed, found out and learnt from some experience. Today, I will show you our good points as well as bad points which F5 found out. I also hope that the other groups will give your comments about our PPT file and our presentation.
If you need to see our PPT file again to have exact remarks, you can download it via:
F5's PPT fileGood points | Bad points | |
PPT file | Simple, short, easy to memorize the functions Follow the rules of standard PPT file Simple templates didn’t distract audience, easy to read | Quite monotonous because of having no pictures to illustrate
Simple templates easily made viewers feel bored |
Presentation | Not depend on slide too much. Kept eye contact well Chose a good position to deliver A lively role-play at the end of presentation helped people to revise the functions. | Made mistakes on pronunciation. Still nervous |
Besides, you can see the source of the templates and the pictures representing each of us on the bottom left of templates.
If it hadn’t been for 1Cers’ help & support, F5 couldn’t have done our presentation well. Thank and love all 1Cers very much.
Don’t hesitate if you intent to give us your comments or advice. We always appreciate them.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
HOW TO COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH SUCCESSFULLY !
You meet an English person in the street and he needs your help to find the way to somewhere. How can you direct him?
You join an English club and have a friend-making party. What do you say to build a good relationship with everyone?
You apply for the job in a foreign company. What will you say to have a successful interview?
Remember that knowing English is quite different... from being able to speak it fluently, smoothly, continuously.
In my opinion, two keys making your communication skills better are:
- How to speak English fluently.
- How to make others understand you perfectly?
* Firstly, you must know the way to master English fluency:
If you want to have a good command of speaking English, it’s not enough that you just pick up a lot of knowledge of English. You'll have to master fluency techniques — the techniques that help you maintain fluency while you are speaking English. It is discovered that the secret of fluency is not classroom speech practice, but mastery of fluency techniques — in real-life situations.
+ An important thing is that you must have enough vocabulary. It is too difficult for you to speak with your lack of words.
+ Don't be shy, stay calm and speak whatever you like, think about. Remember this: Mistakes of grammar, usage, vocabulary... are all ‘externally noticeable mistakes’ — mistakes that a teacher can notice and correct. But you know, ‘externally noticeable mistakes’ like these are not the real reasons that make your speaking difficult. The real reasons are internal mistakes, difficulties and problems that can occur when your mind tries to compose speech before it is delivered.
+ If you are still embarrassed, you can imagine a case and play role in front of a mirror. Have you ever tried those actions?
+ Try to think in English, put your mind in English
+ Reading newspapers and watching movies in English can help you create a habit to communicate in English. You can imitate their tones of voice as well as the way they pronounce to improve yourself.
+ Speak louder, don't worry about your speaking speed at first, make sure that you pronounce exactly. When you are better, begin to speak with high speed step by step.
+ Joining clubs and working in group are good ways to improve your speaking. There are many discussions, debates that encourage you to speak. The members in club will help you do better.
+ Talk as much as possible to foreigners whenever you get a chance.
* The second thing is the ability you make everyone understand what you say. I think some following information will help you much:
+ Speak clearly and pronounce your words correctly. Exaggerated pronunciations will not help your listener and may cause confusion.
+ Do not use informal talk or incorrect English. This does not make you easier to understand. It will confuse your listener and may give the wrong impression about your own level of competence.
+ Avoid running words together ( Do-ya wanna eat-a-pizza?). One of the biggest challenges for listeners is knowing where one word ends and the next one begins. Give them a small pause between words if they seem to be struggling.
+ As possible, opt for simple words instead of ones those are complex. The more basic a word is, the more easily we can understand it, for example instead of saying " play a trick on s.o", you can say simply " cheat s.o". When there are words that sound the same but are spelled differently, write the word down to avoid confusion: 'bear' and 'bare', for instance. If those two words are pronounced slightly differently in your accent, mention this.
+ If asked to repeat something, first repeat it as you said it the first time. Then say it again. It could be that they simply didn't hear you. If your listener still doesn't understand, however, change a few key words in the sentence by using their synonyms. Also repeat the whole sentence and not just the last couple of words. It's time consuming, but it helps prevent confusion. Afterthat if they still don't understand, you can draw or write what you say on paper. Of course, it is the last way. Remember to keep a good attitude and be friendly. Impatience will inhibit your ability to communicate and can alienate your listener. The more relaxed you are, the more you are in control of your communication.
+ Make more gestures than normal when speaking, especially your body language.Often it's possible to understand just by catching a couple of words and seeing the gestures. such as you can say " really? uh huh, yeah, I see, " or nob your head, smile....so on.
I hope those will help you partly. I am very happy if you can share your ideas about that topic with all of people.
You can get more information with those books:
B1: Idea units & Fluency
B2: Speech Generation & Flow Production
B3: Teaching your Tongue & Speech Rhythm
B4: Key Speech-initiators & Speech-unit Patterns
S1: Fluency in Functional English (Vol.1)
S2: Fluency in Functional English (Vol.2)
S3: Fluency in Telephone English and Sectoral English
B5: How to Deal with Hesitation
B6: Oral Training in Fluency Vocabulary (Vol.1)
B7: Packing of Information in Speech
B8: Impromptu Speech-flow Techniques
S4: Fluency Building and Mouth Gymnastics
S5: Fluency in speaking about people
B9: Fluency in Asking Questions
B10: Oral Training in Fluency Vocabulary (Vol.2)
B11: Fluency & Moment-to-Moment Speech-production
B12: Oral Training in Fluency Vocabulary (Vol.3)
S6: Fluency in Topicwise English (Vol.1)
S7: Fluency & Pronunciation
S8: Fluency in Topicwise English (Vol.2)
(writer: ho ut- thu quynh, using some information from www.wikihow.com/communicate-with-a-non-native-english-speaker)
You join an English club and have a friend-making party. What do you say to build a good relationship with everyone?
You apply for the job in a foreign company. What will you say to have a successful interview?
Remember that knowing English is quite different... from being able to speak it fluently, smoothly, continuously.
In my opinion, two keys making your communication skills better are:
- How to speak English fluently.
- How to make others understand you perfectly?
* Firstly, you must know the way to master English fluency:
If you want to have a good command of speaking English, it’s not enough that you just pick up a lot of knowledge of English. You'll have to master fluency techniques — the techniques that help you maintain fluency while you are speaking English. It is discovered that the secret of fluency is not classroom speech practice, but mastery of fluency techniques — in real-life situations.
+ An important thing is that you must have enough vocabulary. It is too difficult for you to speak with your lack of words.
+ Don't be shy, stay calm and speak whatever you like, think about. Remember this: Mistakes of grammar, usage, vocabulary... are all ‘externally noticeable mistakes’ — mistakes that a teacher can notice and correct. But you know, ‘externally noticeable mistakes’ like these are not the real reasons that make your speaking difficult. The real reasons are internal mistakes, difficulties and problems that can occur when your mind tries to compose speech before it is delivered.
+ If you are still embarrassed, you can imagine a case and play role in front of a mirror. Have you ever tried those actions?
+ Try to think in English, put your mind in English
+ Reading newspapers and watching movies in English can help you create a habit to communicate in English. You can imitate their tones of voice as well as the way they pronounce to improve yourself.
+ Speak louder, don't worry about your speaking speed at first, make sure that you pronounce exactly. When you are better, begin to speak with high speed step by step.
+ Joining clubs and working in group are good ways to improve your speaking. There are many discussions, debates that encourage you to speak. The members in club will help you do better.
+ Talk as much as possible to foreigners whenever you get a chance.
* The second thing is the ability you make everyone understand what you say. I think some following information will help you much:
+ Speak clearly and pronounce your words correctly. Exaggerated pronunciations will not help your listener and may cause confusion.
+ Do not use informal talk or incorrect English. This does not make you easier to understand. It will confuse your listener and may give the wrong impression about your own level of competence.
+ Avoid running words together ( Do-ya wanna eat-a-pizza?). One of the biggest challenges for listeners is knowing where one word ends and the next one begins. Give them a small pause between words if they seem to be struggling.
+ As possible, opt for simple words instead of ones those are complex. The more basic a word is, the more easily we can understand it, for example instead of saying " play a trick on s.o", you can say simply " cheat s.o". When there are words that sound the same but are spelled differently, write the word down to avoid confusion: 'bear' and 'bare', for instance. If those two words are pronounced slightly differently in your accent, mention this.
+ If asked to repeat something, first repeat it as you said it the first time. Then say it again. It could be that they simply didn't hear you. If your listener still doesn't understand, however, change a few key words in the sentence by using their synonyms. Also repeat the whole sentence and not just the last couple of words. It's time consuming, but it helps prevent confusion. Afterthat if they still don't understand, you can draw or write what you say on paper. Of course, it is the last way. Remember to keep a good attitude and be friendly. Impatience will inhibit your ability to communicate and can alienate your listener. The more relaxed you are, the more you are in control of your communication.
+ Make more gestures than normal when speaking, especially your body language.Often it's possible to understand just by catching a couple of words and seeing the gestures. such as you can say " really? uh huh, yeah, I see, " or nob your head, smile....so on.
I hope those will help you partly. I am very happy if you can share your ideas about that topic with all of people.
You can get more information with those books:
B1: Idea units & Fluency
B2: Speech Generation & Flow Production
B3: Teaching your Tongue & Speech Rhythm
B4: Key Speech-initiators & Speech-unit Patterns
S1: Fluency in Functional English (Vol.1)
S2: Fluency in Functional English (Vol.2)
S3: Fluency in Telephone English and Sectoral English
B5: How to Deal with Hesitation
B6: Oral Training in Fluency Vocabulary (Vol.1)
B7: Packing of Information in Speech
B8: Impromptu Speech-flow Techniques
S4: Fluency Building and Mouth Gymnastics
S5: Fluency in speaking about people
B9: Fluency in Asking Questions
B10: Oral Training in Fluency Vocabulary (Vol.2)
B11: Fluency & Moment-to-Moment Speech-production
B12: Oral Training in Fluency Vocabulary (Vol.3)
S6: Fluency in Topicwise English (Vol.1)
S7: Fluency & Pronunciation
S8: Fluency in Topicwise English (Vol.2)
(writer: ho ut- thu quynh, using some information from www.wikihow.com/communicate-with-a-non-native-english-speaker)
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