KEYNOTE: "SPEAKING" - THE PRIORITY IN WORLD LANGUAGE EDUCATION

Promoting "teaching for speaking" has been Sue Fenton's goal and passion. She developed speaking strategies, and wrote her own materials because books on speaking were practically non-existent. When a colleague once asked her, "Sue, how do you get your students to be so fluent in French?" she answered, "I just let them speak." That's when she began to write books on speaking to empower teachers to teach for speaking and books and materials for students packed wtih things to say.

This important keynote is a very candid reality check about speaking; its emphasis over time and where it stands today; its impact on student expectations and motivation; "artificial" vs true conversation strategies; the weakness of speaking in texts and the need to compensate. It presents the case for why speaking should be the priority and placed a notch above listening, reading, and writing. The keynote offers a wide variety of solutions and the importance of creating classrooms based on speaking and activities that are task-based, real-world, authentic, meaningful, and personalized. Sue uses the method she developed and trademarked, Virtual Residence Language, as a basis for speaking the language in realistic contexts. The students "move" into their own apartments in a target world city to learn the language as residents there. 

Sue also shares ideas for speakingn for individuals, pairs, and groups. Her workshops are dripping with ideas. 

TIME: 1 1/2 hours, 3 hours, 5 hours 

Contact Sue Fenton to learn more or to schedule a keynote speech for your conference or event.