Quaderno n. 23. GOING GRAPHIC: 4 SQUARES FOR BETTER SPEAKING. Silentium est aurum (“silence is golden”).Or is it? If we google “teaching speaking in English”, we’ll get over 66,300,000 search results with numerous tips, fabulous games or tricks how to get learners speaking – all pointing out the same frustrating tendency showing that many learners are either timid speakers reluctant to participate in any conversation, or that despite mastering the language, as attested by a great number of grammar and vocabulary exercises thoroughly done by the learners in class, their speaking still lacks fluency and coherence.
The latter is sometimes ignored at lower levels. However, speaking is about both fluency and coherence. Coherence is about linking ideas together – just like in a paragraph or essay. This blog post gives some ideas on how to help learners organize what they say into a coherent speech using the Four Square Method. What do we start with? We need 4 squares (* Please note that I’m using a different order of squares than in the original method. Four Square Writing Method.