The following website is awesome practice for helping students out with their oral skills. Vocaroo lets students record themselves speaking English and then, they can play it back and hear how they have done.
Pre-treatment: Do a recording yourself as the teacher. Record yourself speaking about a piece of literature, such as the following article on compulsive shopping. This article is taken from a B1 reading section of an examination and it would be useful if you were dealing with an EFL high school classroom with higher level students that are looking for exam preparation practice or university entrance.
Treatment: Have students read the article alone and have them highlight any new words and ask for their definition before the activity begins.
Post-treatment: Once the students have finished, ask them to record themselves speaking for 5-7 minutes about the article. They can be given a list of prompts to help assist in producing speech for the Vocaroo activity or they can talk about any personal ideas, anecdotes, or experiences related to the article. The students should not be graded on their first attempt so that they will feel comfortable speaking. Grading could happen later on, but it all depends on the class dynamic and how the English level is progressing.
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Compulsive shoppingA new illness, the Compulsive Buying Disorder, has been diagnosed. Its symptoms are frequent thoughts of shopping, experiencing senseless impulses to purchase unneeded items, and overspending to the extent that it harms relationships or job performance. A recent survey has found that one in twenty American adults buy things they may not even want or need. In today’s world of consumerism, where we are constantly bombarded by ads, this is perhaps not unusual. But more surprising is a further finding that runs counter to the conventional and rather stereotyped view that compulsive buying is very much a “woman's disease”: men are just as likely as women to suffer from compulsive buying. Gone seem to be the days when women dragged their bored men around shopping malls.
Researchers say that the number of men who indulge in unnecessary shopping has rocketed. Experts claim that past trends and figures may have been unfairly distorted as male obsessive shoppers used to be more reluctant than women to recognize that they have a problem, admit it, and seek help. While women buy more clothing and products that improve appearance, men tend to focus more on gadgets and technical items and can become compulsive collectors.
And help seems to be exactly what the doctor orders for any compulsive shopper who is usually not made any happier by his or her relentless buying. Doctors have concluded that this behaviour is a way for people to try to complete themselves. For some people, being complete is being impeccably dressed or having something new. Instead, medical practitioners encourage those seeking treatment to cultivate non-materialistic aspects of their lives.
