Communicative skills: a challenging to face with second language learners

Nowadays, learning a second language has become a need for people interested in looking for better Jobs opportunities, traveling, getting scholarships in other countries, meeting new people, and sharing experiences. According to the basic competence standards in foreign languages, in this case, English, it is essential to develop communicative competencies in order to expand their knowledge about the world and make them sociable. 

Working in this competence has been challenging since most students feel afraid of speaking in public and making pronunciation mistakes. Some others are introverted, so interacting with more people is not easy to face. As teachers, it is essential to understand that speaking a new language is going back to the past when babies started pronouncing phonemes, words, phrases, sentences, and finally, complex texts. When learners begin acquiring a second language, the process is similar. Students need to go step by step, get input from teachers or English speakers, build their confidence and gain communicative skills such as interaction. 

Additionally, it is important to look for topics students are into, such as their likes, preferences, dreams, experiences, and success

This action can motivate learners to interact with others and feel confident when expressing their ideas. On the other hand, creativity is a skill that can perfectly match with the communicative competence since students can express their ideas in their own way through different outcomes such as role-plays, posters, videos, poems, songs, essays, etc.

In the Campestre Goyavier School, students have been developing this skill through activities of their interests, such as talking about themselves or a person they admire. One of the most significant activities students made in class this year was designing a poster where they showed their personal information, preferences, abilities, and achievements using their creativity as much as possible. Then, students shared this information orally with their classmates and teachers. With the development of this activity, it can be concluded that when students talk about topics of their interests, they feel confident and free to express their own ideas in a second language. 

Sandra Carolina Tello – English Teacher