To improve your Oral English, you must actually use it.
There are 3 extremely important articles that you should read before embarking on the journey of reading all these 'How to Improve Oral English Series'. They are:
This article may be copied for personal and/or non commercial use.
Please DON'T read this for KNOWLEDGE
You already have knowledge.
Now you need to learn the skill of using your knowledge.
How Can I Improve My Oral English?
This is the most frequent question that Chinese students in High School and University ask me. As a Conversational English Teacher for Five and a Half years now [Summer 2008], I know only too well, that the real answer to this question, is “To Use It!”
By this I mean, that they have never developed the habit and skill of actually speaking, and it is by using the language that you develop your memory of grammar and vocabulary. You also discover your weaknesses. When you discover that you do not know 'how' to express yourself in relation to a particular matter, you can find the motivation to 'learn more'.
What now follows is the first of perhaps a series of booklets that I am currently preparing for my 1st year University Students. The skills discussed in this booklet, are the same skills that I taught 2nd year Senior Middle School students.
What is contained in the booklet, is the foundation for what I teach in class. In class I use 'theory, demonstration, and practical student participation'.
Chinese English Students reading this, might find it of some value. Certainly it will not hurt to follow the principles and learn the skills that it contains.
It is of course just a 'foundational booklet' that provides students with a written synopsis of what I teach in the classroom.
Page 1
The content of this booklet is designed to provide Chinese students with a concise understanding of the basic and necessary skills that will be taught in the classroom.
Although many Chinese students will read this and say: But “I already know this!”, the fact is, that in daily conversation, students do not know how to use these skills.
Luo Laoshi will 'officially' commence teaching the content of this book, on the 3rd week of class.
Students will be given a written exam on its' content at a future date.
PAGE 2. How do YOU answer questions?
When I ask you: 'What is your name?”, do you just say your name? If I ask you your age, do you just say a number, for example: '20'. If I ask you: 'Where do you come from?', do you just say (for example), 'Wuhan'.
The first thing you need to learn, is to answer questions with 'whole sentences' [complete sentences]. That is to say, using a subject, a verb and an object. For Example: “What is your name?” - "My name is Hu Yu."
Each answer ought to contain the keyword of the question. In the sentence above, the key word is 'Name'. Why is it necessary? Let me show you.
If I start asking students the question 'Do you have a brother?' Most students just say 'yes' or 'no'. Then if I change the question to 'Do you have a mother?', I still just get 'yes' or 'no' for an answer. But do I in fact know which question you are answering? Do I know if you have understood my question?
Repeating the key word, (i.e. using reflection) helps both of us to know that we are talking about the same topic.
Q. 'Do you have a brother?'
A. 'Yes, I have a brother'.
But if you answer: 'Yes I have a MOTHER', then I know immediately that you did not hear my question clearly.
You used the wrong keyword.
Articles 3 & 4 will deal with this in more detail.
Just answering questions with one or two words, or a phrase, is not a real conversation. It is more like a Police interrogation. In a real conversation, people share information, expressing their thoughts, opinions and ideas. If you want to have a real conversation then you must speak in whole sentences, using keywords [for effective communication,] and you must also learn to give Informative Answers.
PAGE 3. Informative Answers
You have previously learned that when you meet a person for the first time that you should introduce yourself. That introduction is actually an 'Informative Answer', for you give to the person information about yourself that they did not specifically ask for. For Example: My Introduction.
Q. Tell me a little about yourself?
A. Well, my name is Luosi Dike and I'm an Australian from Brisbane in Queensland. I've been teaching English in China for 3 years now, and I am currently teaching at Hubei Guangbo Dianshi Daxue in Wuhan.
This BRIEF introduction answers the following questions:
What is your name?
Where do you come from?
How long have you been in China?
What do you do here?
Here is another example of an Informative Answer:
Q. In Which School do you Teach?
Answer: I teach in Hong Hu Number One Middle School. It is just to the left of the Main road as you enter town. It is a reasonably new school. I think it was built about five years ago. The old number one school was at the top of town near Long Ke Duo supermarket. The school currently has about 3,500 students, and about 1,000 of them are boarders living at school. Students go to school thirteen out of every fourteen days, and start school at 6:30 in the morning. Grades One and Two finish about 9:30pm and Grade Three finishes at 10pm.
This answer answers so many different questions that you did not ask me, but which I guessed that you MIGHT ask .
PAGE 4. A Grammatical Exercise – An Informative Answer
Step 1: Answer each question separately as a simple sentence.
Step 2: Using good grammar, link all the ideas to make three or four sentences. These sentences will be a long informative answer. (It is also an introduction).
You will give me a copy of these 3 or 4 sentences, and then you will address the class and speak what you wrote.
This is a grammar exercise. Follow these instructions or you will fail the Test. (Yes! It counts toward your Exam).
The Questions:
1. What is your name?
2. How old are you?
3. Where do you come from?
4. How many people are there in your family?
5. Do you have any brothers or sisters?
6. Which high school did you attend?
7. Which university do you attend?
8. What year are you in? (= How many years have you been at University?)
9. What is your Major?
10. What career path do you want to follow?
11. Where do you want to work in the future?
12. Why do you want to do that work?
13. Where do you currently live?
14. With whom do you live?
15. Do you like living there?
You do not need to connect answers consecutively. You can rearrange the order in which you answer the questions.
2008 Update
This is a grammar exercise:
First you write the answers to all the questions. Make them simple sentence answers.
Then try to connect all the keywords that could fit together in a sentence. You will find further information in a later article, but let me give you an idea of what I mean.
My name is ____ and I'm a 20 year old, first year, English major, studying at ____ university in _____ and I hope one day to be a ( - career - ) working in ( - town/city/country -).
PAGE 5. Changing Topics
The key to Changing Topics in a conversation is to use the Key words of a question or an answer, to change the direction of the conversation. When you use keywords, you are 'reflecting back' the content of the other speaker. We call this 'Reflection'.(See No. 3 Article: Why is Reflection Important?)
A True Classroom Example of Changing Topics.
Q. Do you like fish?
A. No, I don't like the smell of fish.
Q. Do you like the smell of saltwater fish?
A. No I don't'. I smelled saltwater fish in Fujian.
Q. Where is Fujian?
A. Fujian is in the South of China.
Q. What were you doing in Fujian?
A. I was in Fujian on HOLIDAYS.
Q. Who were you with on HOLIDAYS in Fujian?
A. I was on HOLIDAYS with my family.
Q. How many people are there in your family?
Note the Repetition of Words – Key Words
Of Course, the student could have just given me an informative answer that kept changing the direction of the conversation. For example:
“No I don't like the smell of fish, even of saltwater fish which I smelled when I was on holidays with my family in Fujian”.
PAGE 6. Changing Direction during a VERY LONG Informative Answer:
Q. Do you like Fish?
Answer:
No, I don't like fish. When I was a young boy my parents made me eat so much fish that I learned to hate eating it. They loved to go fishing and so we always had lots of fish to eat.
One day when I was fishing with my father, he caught a Shark. He managed to pull the shark into the side of the boat and began beating it on the head with a hammer. When he thought that it was dead, he dragged it into the boat. The shark however was not dead and it suddenly began to jump around in the boat. The Shark was two metres long, our boat was only three metres long, and I was only one metre tall.
I was so frightened by the shark, that even though that happened when I was a little boy, I am still afraid of Sharks, and I never like to swim in the ocean, even though I live very near to it. But that doesn't mean that I don't like going to the beach. No! I love going to the beach. The beaches in my country are long and wide, and the sand is very white. The grains of sand are very small like salt, and when you walk on it, it makes a really funny squeaky noise. I love to walk and run on the beach, and I often sunbake as well.
My favourite beach is at Karrawa on the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is a strip of land in the southern most part of my province, and is famous as a tourist attraction.
Tourists come from all over the world to see not only our beaches, but to visit 'Movie World' where they make many American Movies, and of course, to visit the many wildlife parks and rainforests that are found nearby.
Most informative answers equal just one short paragraph.
PAGE 7. Changing Direction in a Conversation:
A Practice Example of Changing Topics:
A. What will you do when you finish your studies at Hong Hu High School?
B. When I finish High School I'm going to Beijing University.
A. Have you ever been to Beijing before?
B. No I haven't.
A. Oh you will love it. I was there last summer and visited the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and many other interesting places, but it does cost a lot of money to go on all the tours.
B. Oh I don't have to worry about money. I have an uncle and aunt and two cousins living in Beijing. Oh! Actually one cousin is now living and studying in America.
A. Really? I also have a cousin living in America. He's in Chicago studying to become a doctor.
B. Wow! My cousin is also in Chicago studying to become a doctor. He loves it there, although he is not happy that America has gone to war with Iraq.
A. It is not just the Americans who are fighting in Iraq you know. The Australians are there as well.
B. I didn't know that. We have an Australian teaching at our school.
A. Really? I met an Australian in Wuhan two weeks ago. He is an English Teacher. His name is --
B. Mr.---------------? That is my teacher in Hong Hu!
We went from talking about Hong Hu High School, to Beijing University, to tourist places in Beijing, to Family, to cousins in the USA, to the war in Iraq, to Australians, to an Australian English Teacher in Wuhan, and back to school in Hong Hu.
Complete Sentences: Speaking whole sentences not just phrases. [Subject – Verb – Object]
Reflection: Replying with some of the same words that were spoken to you. [My NAME is .......]
Statements: Are ordinary sentences containing information.
Conversation: Is the sharing of Information, thoughts, ideas, opinions etc
Effective Communication: is making sure that both speakers understand the meaning of the other, and requires speaking in whole sentences and reflecting back some of the words spoken to you. It may also require asking 'clarifying questions'.
Questions:
Are not always replied to with Direct Answers
They may be replied to with Questions or Statements.
They should be answered with complete sentences, and with extra information, even if that information is not absolutely necessary and even if the question was a 'Closed Question'.
Closed Questions: Usually can be answered with 'Yes – No – Maybe – Sometimes – I don't know'.
Open Questions: Usually require the other person to give some information that forces them to 'talk'.
Multiple Questions: Asking more than one question in the same sentence.
Informative Questions: Are questions that EXPLAIN 'why' you are asking the Question. If you wonder why a person is asking a certain question, then they have failed to make their question informative.
Informative Answers: Are answers that give people more information than they specifically asked for. It is ADDITIONAL information which you can guess that they might ask for.
2008 Update
The content of this article is what I actually teach in the first few lessons, and from then on I begin the process of making students think and practice these skills, until they reach a point where they suddenly realise that they have a lot more ability than they thought.
Take your time reading this series of articles. They are not about filling your head with knowledge, but about teaching you practical skills. That means that you must practice them.
Luo Laoshi - Luosi Dike, with Li Tianhua
Footnotes
One of the problems I have in the classroom is that students pay little attention to doing what I request. If I don't clearly state my reasons for doing something a particular way, they just do what they think is better. Unfortunately when they do this in any exam or test situation, they fail the test. For example, they often will not compose the 3 to 4 sentences for the informative answer test, because they think of it as an introduction. So when they stand in front of the class, what they end up doing is not what is being tested. So they fail. One of the purposes of that speaking test, is to hear them say specific words, so that I can quickly and easily determine what their speech problems are.
So on the little booklet I have prepared for next semester's classes, I have placed footnotes. Take the time to read them, and remember, when your teacher gives you an instruction, there is usually a good reason for it, even if you don't know what that reason is.
Don't learn definitions for the exam: Understand the terminology.
'Reflection' as used in this book is the only correct Exam Answer.
Students who just memorise do not actually learn to understand.
Students who understand this material always pass their written tests
Tests are easy to pass when you understand the Meaning of what I teach.
You will be required to give 'SPOKEN' informative answers for EXAMS
Do what I ask (not what you think will sound good) and you will Pass.
The Key to Changing Topics is to use the KEYWORDS
Students who just memorise this page usually FAIL. Understand it!
Students fail because they don't want to work hard at understanding
R.P.BenDedek is from Brisbane Australia and is the author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' at http://www.kingscalendar.com His academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
He writes photographic 'Stories from China' and social editorial commentaries, both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing newspaper columnist. He currently teaches Conversational English in China and in addition to his English Lessons at KingsCalendar, he has created specific sites for Students of English.
