Workshop: Helping your students acquire a
more native-like fluency!
José Roberto A. Igreja
Robert C. Young
Helping your students acquire a more native-like fluency!
What´s fluency?
How can we define someone who´s fluent in a language?
Fluent > Dictionary definition:
Able to speak with ease; able to speak a language effortlessly and correctly
source: Encarta on-line dictionary
When a person is fluent, they can speak a language easily, well and quickly
source: Cambridge Advanced Learner´s Dictionary
Being able to interact in a foreign language with native speakers of this
language; able to communicate effectively.
Helping your students acquire a more native-like fluency!
Foreign language fluency: the 4 components
• Reading
> the ability to easily read and understand texts written in the language;
• Writing
> the ability to formulate written texts in the language;
• Listening Comprehension
> the ability to follow and understand speech in the language;
• Speaking
> the ability to produce speech in the language and be understood by
its speakers.
Helping your students acquire a more native-like fluency!
What do native speakers of English make use of in their speech
when they talk?
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Slang
Colloquial terms
Phrasal verbs (present in both formal and informal language)
Idioms
Present Perfect
>>> Students need to be exposed to real language ...
Students need to be exposed to real language ...
Phrasal verbs: always present in everyday language!
1. Someone failed to show up for an appointment with you. What did this
person do to you?
> stood you up
2. You can´t understand someone because he´s speaking too fast. What do
you tell this person to do?
> slow down
3. You are offered a job but you refuse to accept it. What do you do?
> turn it down
4. It´s late at night and you decide to go to bed. What do you decide to do?
> turn in
5. You manage to find the solution to a problem. What do you manage to do?
> figure it out or work it out
Phrasal verbs: always present in everyday language!
6. You persuade someone to do something for you. What do you do?
> talk him/her into doing something for you
7. You persuade someone not to do something. What do you do?
> talk him/her out of doing it
8. All of a sudden you decide not to do something you had agreed to do.
What do you do?
> back out
9. Someone stops talking suddenly or refuses to talk about a subject. What
does he or she do?
> clam up
10. You defend or support someone in an argument. What do you do?
> back him/her up
Students should also be aware that literal equivalence is not always possible ...
“A gota d´água ...
... que faz o balde transbordar”
“The last straw ...
... that breaks the camel´s back”
Um mar de rosas
A bed of roses
Helping your students acquire a more native-like fluency!
Language chunks / Collocations
• Achados e perdidos
• quick train; quick food; fast meal; fast shower
• Natural English: fast train; fast food; quick meal; quick shower
Collocations
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Non-fat
Skim
Condensed
Chocolate
Whole
Steamed
Soy
A glass of
A carton of
Low-fat
Collocations
> Time
What words collocate with “time”?
free time
right on time
run out of time
save time
spare time
spend some time
take your time
tell someone the time
time goes by
waste time
Time flies!!!
Collocations
> Pay
pay attention
pay by credit card
pay cash
pay interest
pay someone a compliment
pay someone a visit
pay the bill
pay the price
pay a fine
pay your respects
Pay through the nose
Use of sports idioms in American culture
Throw in the towel
boxing
Touch base with
baseball
Use of sports idioms in American culture
Tackle a problem
American football
Dive into it
swimming
Use of sports idioms in American culture
Pass the baton / Pass the torch
athletics
Shoot
basketball
Use of sports idioms in American culture
Down and out (boxing)
Take a rain check (baseball)
Jump the gun (athletics)
Out of my league (baseball)
By a nose (horse racing)
Hole in one (golf)
Helping your students acquire a more native-like fluency!
Practical strategies on how to be more fluent:
a. Watch movies, TV and You Tube and try to model speaking and intonation.
b. Study vocabulary and expressions for specific and real life situations.
c. Find movie scripts on the internet and print them for verbal practice.
d. Get on a chat room.
e. Film yourself and have a native speaking teacher evaluate you if possible.
f. Do response exercises. Write down popular questions or expressions and
test yourself to respond quickly and with accurate pronunciation.
Variety: The more ... the better ...
1. Be very busy
= Have one’s hands full
2. Ready
= All set
3. Disappoint someone
= Let someone down
4. Seriously; really
= No kidding
5. I have no idea
= I don’t have a clue; Beats me!
6. Break into pieces; collapse
= Fall apart
7. Eat some food or a small meal
= Grab a bite to eat
8. Decide
= Make up one’s mind
9. Appear; arrive
= Show up
10. Very tired
= Beat; Bushed
11. Very quickly or soon
= In no time
12. Absolutely not!; definitely not!
= No way!
13. At risk; in danger of being lost
= At stake
14. Full of
= Packed with
15. Provide accommodation for someone
= Put someone up
Helping your students acquire a more native-like fluency!
Formal X Informal Language: two sides of the same coin!
Que odor desagradável
= Puta catinga/fedô!
Essential measures should be undertaken at the earliest opportunity.
You should do whatever you have to as soon as you can.
Prior to the discovery of America, potatoes were not consumed in Europe.
Before they discovered America, Europeans didn't eat potatoes
Formal X Informal Language: two sides of the same coin!
The situation and the people we are talking to set the level of
language formality or informality ...
Students need to be exposed to both ...
In everyday speech, informal language prevails ...
Tour of the book
Fale Inglês como um Americano
by José Roberto A. Igreja and
Robert C. Young
Disal Editora - 2010
Tour of the book - Overview
Stats on the book:
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Fale Inglês como um Americano
by José Roberto A. Igreja and
Robert C. Young
Disal Editora - 2010
222 pages
30 dialogues
30 illustrations
A set of exercises after each
dialogue
• 3 review units: extra exercises
• Answer key
• 1 CD = 30 dialogues
Tour of the book
Tour of the book > Dialogues: A good variety of topics ...
Tour of the book > Dialogues: A good variety of topics ...
Tour of the book
Tour of the book
Tour of the book
Tour of the book
> 3 Review units: after every 10 units
Tour of the book
Tour of the book
Tour of the book
Tour of the book
Variety: The more ... The better ...
16. Frighten; scare
= Spook
17. Do something before it should be done, before considering the situation carefully
= Rush into things
18. Go ahead and start talking
= Shoot!
19. Nice meeting you too!
= Same here!
20. Very well dressed
= Dressed to kill
21. Pay for something
= Pick up the tab
22. Very rarely; hardly ever
= Once in a blue moon
23. Choose something; make a choice
= Take one´s pick
24. Use your influence to get something
= Pull strings
25. Enjoy something greatly
= Get a kick out of something
26. Nervous and easily upset
= On edge
27. Someone who is not drinking any alcohol anymore
= On the wagon
28. Show one´s feelings openly
= Wear one´s heart on one´s sleeve
29. Remind one of something; seem familiar
= Ring a bell
30. Postpone until a later time
= Take a rain check
What´s the idiom behind the picture?
What´s the idiom behind the picture?
Kill time: spend time doing something while waiting to do something else
“We have an hour to kill before the movie starts. Let´s go get something to eat.”, Luke told
his friends.
What´s the idiom behind the picture?
Give someone the red carpet treatment:
treat someone in a special way
After winning the contest Cindy was given the
red carpet treatment at a five star hotel for a
week.
Laugh one´s head off: laugh very
much and very loudly.
Jack laughed his head off when he saw Mike
imitating their friend Bob.
What´s the idiom behind the picture?
Chicken out: be afraid to do something
Mary chickened out of the climb when she saw how
high the cliff was.
Sit on the fence: not to take sides in a
dispute
You´ll have to take sides. You can just sit on the
fence anymore!
What´s the idiom behind the picture?
Break the ice: initiate conversation;
get something started
“What do you do for a living?”, Neil asked
the girl he had been introduced to, to
break the ice.
What´s the idiom behind the picture?
Couch potato: someone who is not very active
and spends a lot of time watching t.v.
Many children are becoming couch potatoes from playing video games all day long.
Wrapping up
To receive this powerpoint presentation by e-mail ...
José Roberto A. Igreja
jr@dialectoenglish.com.br
Robert C. Young
conneryoung@yahoo.com