Amanda C.

I always used the technique of MAP (Motivate, Activate and Participate) to make all students in a class speak without inhibition.

In order to prompt the students to communicate in English, different games, face-to-face, videos, and group activities can be introduced. To mention a few activities like 1. Guessing Game 2. Picture Storytelling 3. Identify the Object 4. Picture Describing 5. Listen and Draw and so on.

I tried this approach on a target group of thirty students, a mixed group () When I tried this with the learners, it turned out to be an amazing method and approaches to teach communication skill to the students of vernacular medium students. The main objective was to know about (1)the effectiveness of using various tasks, games, and creative activities to enhance students’ communication skills, and (2)the students’ attitude to their learning experience via the MAP approach.

As a teacher of English, my experience of motivating the students to actively participate in all the tasks/activities that aim at promoting their communication skills was overwhelming. I saw to it that every student gets an opportunity to express himself/herself after conducting every activity.

The best solution which I found to develop communication skills among vernacular medium students are as follows-

*Before motivating others I always motivate myself, therefore I must be enthusiastic.
*Always giving them a pat on the back and using phrases such as “Well done. It is a good attempt.” “It is a good point.” “You have been creative.”
*Always sounding positive. Instilling confidence in my students. Telling them that it is not impossible to develop their speaking skills and help them believe my words.
*Creating a friendly and conducive environment for students to speak and discuss topics and issues. The atmosphere of the classroom matters a lot.
*Encouraging free discussion. The objective was to make my students speak fluently. At a later stage, I would guide them to be coherent, logical, etc.
*Listening and observing their grammatical errors and correcting them later.
Allowing judicious use of certain words and expressions in the students’ native language when they struggled to find the equivalents in English.
Adding humor to my presentations and having fun with the student always got them interested.
Empathizing with learners who need your special attention to understand their students’ strengths and weaknesses.