Be sure that students have plenty of opportunity to listen to the teacher speak. Students pick up word meaning and sentence construction just from listening. To encourage language acquisition, teachers need to speak more slowly than they would naturally and use repetition of phrases as well as offer alternative ways of saying the same thing.
Visual aids support student listening activities by clarifying meaning, and audio tools help with pronunciation. Teachers need to monitor student's listening by asking simple questions to see if students understand what the teacher has been talking about.
Another way to develop oral use of language is to ask students to talk briefly about a personal experience. According to the Education Alliance, English language students from other cultures often have a narrative style that seems disorganized to native English speakers, who tend to tell stories in a linear form, following a sequence of events.
Teachers can guide students into a more linear style by asking questions that prompt the students to think in a linear way. The purpose of encouraging foreign students to tell a story in this way ensures that they are better understood in an English-speaking country and not to judge other cultures' styles of narrative.
Both primary and second language learners benefit from Total Physical Response activities. The key to this strategy is to ask the students to do something that requires body movement as well as thought. This teaches basic phrases such as "Take out your English book and put it on the desk" or "Put your hand on your head." The strategy is based on the theory that students start speaking more quickly when they learn by doing. It also equips them to understand instructions and commands in a wide range of environments, which increases student confidence.
Language software programs are a useful addition to any teaching strategy as they allow students to practice on their own as well as in the classroom. One of these programs, Pronunciation Power, specializes in teaching students the 52 basic sounds of English and clarifies the difference in pronunciation between words like "tough" and "through," which always pose a problem for second language students. The software is available for different ability levels and includes a package to improve use and understanding of idiomatic speech.