SPEAKING   The goal of a speaking component in a language class should be to encourage the acquisition of communication skills and to foster real life communication in and out of the classroom. SPEAKING ACTIVITIES 1.   Drills: T can model the forms to be produced, providing necessary information about the form. e.g.  Structured Interview:  Ss question eachother and answer, while at the same time repeating and reinforcing specific structures (yes-no; wh-questions). Picture Games: Ss match texts with pictures, or describe a step in a process with its corresponding diagram. Psychology Games: Descriptions, speculations about the age and character of people in pictures or photographs, “the game of 20 questions” where a group of Ss has 20 chances to find out what object/person the “leader” is thinking about, or memory games such as “story building”. 2.  Performance Activities: Ss prepare the activities beforehand and deliver a message to a group. e.g. Speech: S deliver a speech and the T gives feedback, often using an evaluation form aiming to                 evaluate the content. Role-plays and Dramas: These activities should be performed in front of the class. Debates:  This is especially for intermediate and advanced level classroom performance activity. 3.  Participation Activities: Ss participate in some communicative activity in a natural setting. e.g. Guided discussion: The T provides a brief orientation to some problem or a topic, usually by means of a                                  short reading. Conversation: (especially with a native speaker or an advanced speaker) Interview: (e.g. interview the oldest person you know, interview someone  you know who had unusual                         experiences, etc.) Oral Dialog Journal:  To create a dialogue, Ss speak spontaneously on an audiotape on a given topic,                    such as a response to an assigned article or essay, or on anything of interest. 4. Observation Activities: Ss observe and/or record verbal and nonverbal interactions between two or more native or fluent speakers of the target language. For example, “native habitat”--how and when people greet each other, thank each other, compliment one another, disaree, etc.