User's manual for 'Speak UP!'

User's manual for 'Speak UP!'

Vision

Vision

The authors of this material see that there are teachers all around the world who teach in English in settings where English is either the second or the foreign language. Many of these (student) teachers need a thorough training in English speaking which we, the authors, hope to provide via this material.

Note: In further writing, the teacher is the instructor who uses this material for teaching in their own course. The learner is the person who is using the material to learn from.

 

Goals and objectives

Goals and objectives

The goal of this material is to help educators around the world gain self-confidence and mastery of the English language in educational contexts. In this light, there are different sorts of competences that the authors kept in mind. They are listed below:

  1. linguistic competence - mastery of grammar, vocabulary and morphology;.
  2. sociocultural competence - appropriate use of language toward social values and system;
  3. strategic competence - strategies used to maintain communication and/or communicate effectively;
  4. actional competence - physical performance of communication such as pronunciation; and
  5. discourse competence - pragmatic competence, shaping language and communicating purposively using cohesion and coherence appropriately.

(Rambe, 2017)

 

Theoretical basis

The communicative method

Communicative method

The material is written to be aligned with the communicative approach to learning a foreign language. There is some attention to grammar, but more attention is given to vocabulary development and communicative fluency in the form of interactive language tasks. Besides that, the material meets the criteria for the communicative method in the following ways (Rambe, 2017):

  1. Focus on realistic communication - every speaking activity is an example of real-world teacher language;
  2. Space for fluency practice - the speaking activities build up in levels of difficulty and include activities where the learners practice short tasks again and again;
  3. Use of authentic texts - every speaking activity is based on input texts found in the real world, including online articles, TEDx talks and blogs;
  4. Connecting the material to the world outside - in this case, the material connects to actual language one might expect in the context of the school, inside and outside of the classroom, during meetings and conversations with other educators, pupils, parents and professionals.

PLAIN TEXT HERE.

 

The Common European Framework of Reference

The Common European Framework of Reference

The material is designed to help learners achieve different levels of (interactional) speaking skills within the Common European Framework of Reference.

 

Online interactive CEFR-aligned language profile

Online interactive CEFR-aligned language profile

The Dutch ‘Stichting Leerplanontwikkeling’ (National Center of Expertise for the Development of Learning Plans) has developed an interactive, online tool to help educators align their lessons with the CEFR. This interactive tool is called ‘Taalprofielen’ (Language profiles) and provides ‘can-do’ statements for listening, reading, speaking, writing, oral interaction, written interaction, online interaction, mediation of texts, and fiction. It has these for each of the CEFR levels, from (pre-)A1 to C2, and include language activities, competences, multilingualism, strategies and more.

In developing this material, the authors made use of the ‘language profile’ information for speaking and oral interaction, levels B1, B2 and C1.

 

Quality control

Quality control

In the course of developing this material, we made use of the ‘Scorekaart kwaliteitsmodel Impuls Open Leermateriaal’ (Scorecard quality model Impulse Open Materiaal for Learning). This checklist includes aspects from these categories:

  1. didactic quality - learning objectives, success criteria, exercises
  2. subject matter - relevant, correct and understandable
  3. accessibility and user-friendliness - readable and easy-to-use
  4. user rights - all material is free of copyrights
  5. re-usability - material is independent of school and may be reused
  6. searchable (metadata) - the metadata of the material is complete and correct

 

How to use the material

How to use the material

This material was developed for use by any primary school educator involved in teaching English as a Foreign/Second Language; from student teachers to experienced teachers wishing to improve their own English in the educational setting. This can be used for self-study, but it is more appropriate for training in group settings, as learning to speak is a coöperative experience. This material is not meant to replace existing courses, but to support them.

 

Scope and sequence

Scope and sequence

The material is sorted into themes, each of which has a similar structure; from easy to difficult, from input to output. The themes do not build up on each other and may be taught in any order. The topics were selected to reflect the sort of English an educator might need in the course of the school year.

Each theme follows the same structure:

  1. Opening - context of the theme, learning objectives and success criteria;
  2. Basic user (B1) - introduction, vocabulary, listening exercise, speaking tasks 1, 2, and 3, self-assessment;
  3. Independent user (B2) - introduction, input text, speaking tasks 4, 5, and 6, self-assessment; and
  4. Proficient user (C1) - introduction, input texts 1 and 2, speaking tasks 7 and 8, self-assessment.

Depending on the starting level of the learner, they may decide to start at level Basic, Independent, or Proficient. The learner then continues through to the desired end level.

 

Contents per theme:

 

Theme

Content focus

Basic

Independent

Proficient

School day

Classroom layout

Decorated walls

Japanese classroom

Silent reading

Maths

Maths

Geography

Science

Snacktime

Healthy and unhealthy snacks

School rules and expectations around snacks

School meeting about snacktime policies

Playtime

Playground equipment and games

Resolving playground conflicts

Designing output play environments

Social skills training

Citizenship

Digital Literacy

Gym

Lunchtime

Fine arts

Art

Music

Drama

Tidy up time

tidy-up routines

Classroom organization and tidiness

Historical perspective of classroom rules

Parent-teacher conferences

Staff meeting

 

 

 

 

Differentiated material

Before you start

Each theme has three levels: Basic User (B1 of the CEFR), Independent User (B2 of the CEFR), and Proficient User (C1 of the CEFR). Texts for the Basic User are also available via audio, indicated by the sign on the page. Learners may start and finish at any level; they are not required to complete every activity in the theme.

The focus of each level is different: Basic users focus on interaction with pupils, Independent users focus on interaction with educator peers, and Proficient users focus on interaction in settings with a broader perspective, either professionally, culturally, or historically.

Each level consists of about 2 - 4 hours of work.

 

How it works

How it works:

The opening page of the material looks like a chalkboard with the day’s planning:

When you click on a ‘subject’, you will be taken to a wikiwijs page. There, you see the learning objectives and activities for the three levels. Please note: themes in white print have already been worked out and published. Themes in green print are still in the making.

Exceptions to this are ‘maths’, ‘fine arts’, and ‘social skills’, which will first take you to a page with three choices. These are specialised pages with vocabulary and exercises specifically related to giving instruction in various subject areas. These are meant to assist the learner in giving CLIL instruction (Content and Language Integrated Learning).

Wikiwijs pages may be downloaded as PDF documents and distributed for educational purposes.

 

Completion of tasks

Completion of tasks

Some of the tasks can be completed individually, others in small groups or with the class. Listening and reading tasks are used as preparation for the speaking tasks that follow. Here is a table to illustrate this:

Level task individual/group/genAI
Basic introduction individual
  vocabulary individual
  vocabulary tests individual
  speaking task 1 with a partner
  speaking task 2 with a partner
  speaking task 3 with a partner
Independent introduction individual
  listen and read individual
  vocabulary individual
  speaking task 4 with a partner
  speaking task 5 co-operative practice
  speaking task 6 small group
Proficient introduction individual
  listen and read individual
  processing information individual
  independent research individual
  preparing for speaking individual
  speaking task 7 partner/ genAI
  speaking task 8 partner/ genAI

 

 

Inclusive teaching

Work in progress...

This page will be filled in later....

 

Sample lesson set-up

Work in progress...

This page will be filled in later....

 

Assessment strategies

Work in progress...

This page will be filled in later....

 

Resources

Literature list:

  1. CEFR: Council of Europe (2018). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment. Companion volume with new descriptors. Available from: https://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989
  2. Klipp, A. (2023). Vreemde talen in het basisonderwijs: een activerende didactiek voor Engels en MVT. Coutinho.
  3. Online interactive language profile: Stichting Leerplanontwikkeling (24 October 2024). https://www.slo.nl/thema/vakspecifieke-thema/mvt/erk/gedeeld/taalprofielen/
  4. Rambe, S. (2017). Communicative Language Teaching. English Journal for Teaching and Learning, 5(2), 54-66. http://doi/org/10.24952/ee.v512.1180

 

Back to home page

Home page

Welcome to Speak UP! English for educators

 
 
08:00 School day starts
08:30 Silent reading
09:00 Maths (CLIL)
10:00 Snack time
10:30 Play time
11:00 Social skills training (CLIL)
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Fine arts (CLIL)
15:00 Tidy up time
15:30 Parent-teacher conference
16:00 Staff meeting

Are you ready? Click on any subject to begin.

Subjects in white are ready for use.

Subjects in green will be ready in the coming years.

'CLIL' is a theme to help teachers learn how to give CLIL instruction.

User manual

  • Het arrangement User's manual for 'Speak UP!' is gemaakt met Wikiwijs van Kennisnet. Wikiwijs is hét onderwijsplatform waar je leermiddelen zoekt, maakt en deelt.

    Auteur
    Speak UP! English for Educators
    Laatst gewijzigd
    2025-09-24 17:15:10
    Licentie

    Dit lesmateriaal is gepubliceerd onder de Creative Commons Naamsvermelding-GelijkDelen 4.0 Internationale licentie. Dit houdt in dat je onder de voorwaarde van naamsvermelding en publicatie onder dezelfde licentie vrij bent om:

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    Aanvullende informatie over dit lesmateriaal

    Van dit lesmateriaal is de volgende aanvullende informatie beschikbaar:

    Toelichting
    This is a simple template for the other themes.
    Leerniveau
    HBO - Bachelor;
    Leerinhoud en doelen
    Engelse taal en cultuur;
    Eindgebruiker
    leraar
    Moeilijkheidsgraad
    gemiddeld
    Studiebelasting
    0 uur 30 minuten
    Trefwoorden
    english, english for specific purposes, speak up, teacher education, user's manual

    Gebruikte Wikiwijs Arrangementen

    Speak UP! English for Educators. (z.d.).

    Basic theme

    https://maken.wikiwijs.nl/208672/Basic_theme

    Speak UP! English for Educators. (2025).

    home page

    https://maken.wikiwijs.nl/218768/home_page

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    LTI

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