Group Discussion (Conversations in Spain)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VxGp4WFbsOH0RPDzU5UDX0ustaZzKKcf/view?usp=drivesdk
After we watched the video on the link above, we now come to discuss the worksheet:
Activity 1
How much do you know about Spain? Test yourself with this ‘true or false’ quiz!
1. Spain is the largest country in Western Europe.
2. Barcelona is the capital city of Spain.
3. The population of Spain is 46 million.
4. Spain borders Portugal and France.
5. Spain has been a member of the European Union since 1986.
Activity 2
Now watch the first part of the film: Conversation 1. Circle the person who talks about the points below.
1. A teacher who speaks English very well
Jonathan Nuria Laura Christina Sara
2. Far-sighted parents know their children need English
Jonathan Nuria Laura Christina Sara
3. Granada is a tourist city
Jonathan Nuria Laura Christina Sara
4. Learning very, very much at the academy
Jonathan Nuria Laura Christina Sara
5. Needing English in the future for work
Jonathan Nuria Laura Christina Sara
6. Preparing to take an exam in English
Jonathan Nuria Laura Christina Sara
7. The job pages in the newspapers
Jonathan Nuria Laura Christina Sara
8. The key to speaking English fluently is to think in English
Jonathan Nuria Laura Christina Sara
9. The school’s location in the centre of town
Jonathan Nuria Laura Christina Sara
Activity 3
Now watch the first part again. Which points on the list below does the School Director mention?Tick the points you hear. (Be careful: there are two points he does not mention!)
1. My father started this school.
2. There were no English schools in Granada at that time.
3. It was fashionable for young women to study English.
4. Universities were closed to women until the late 40s/early 50s.
5. English is a requirement for most jobs these days.
6. We organise study courses in the UK for our students.
7. We only employ native-speaking teachers.
8. There are a lot of hotels in Granada.
9. Professionals such as lawyers need English.
10. There are few job opportunities in Granada.
Activity 4
Now watch Conversation 2 and correct the mistakes in the following statements.
1. Giulio is in Madrid to attend a training course.
2. He started learning English at secondary school.
3. His English teacher in middle school was not very good.
4. He went to the US for one month.
5. He is a shy person.
6. He says people judge you and make fun of you when you speak English.
7. He says you must avoid making mistakes if you want to improve your English.
Activity 5
In the next part of the film you are going to watch an interview with
a Spanish English teacher. Before you watch, think of three difficulties
students might have when they learn English in Spain. Then watch the
film and see if your predictions were correct.
1. ................................................. 2. .................................................... 3. ..................................................
Activity 6
Now watch Conversation 3 again and put Beatriz’s comments in the list below into the correct order.
A. It’s important for someone to ‘push’ you to talk in English.
B. Learning pronunciation from teachers who have bad pronunciation is a problem.
C. Lessons in school focus on grammar exercises more than talking.
D. People are afraid of making mistakes when speaking to foreigners.
E. Private English lessons support what students learn at school.
F. Students don’t get enough speaking practice in class at school.
G. When you study a language you have to like it.
H. You have to travel.
Activity 7
Discuss the following questions.
1. In what ways are the difficulties experienced by students in Spain similar to those in your country?
2. The School Director says that English is a requirement for practically any job in Spain. Is this true in your
country? If so, how long has this been the case?
3. Do you agree with Nuria when she says that the key to fluency is thinking in English? If so, what can
students do to help themselves develop the habit of thinking in English?
4. To what extent do you agree with Giulio when he says that making mistakes is a way to improve your
English? How do you feel if you make mistakes when you are speaking English?
5. Do you agree with Beatriz when she says that you have to ‘jump’ (get over) the embarrassment you
feel when you are speaking English? If so, what is the best way to do this?
6. The film consisted of 3 conversations (the director, the learner, the teacher). Why do you think the
film makers interviewed people in these roles?
7. What other questions do you think the film should have asked?
8. What did you find most interesting or surprising about the video?
Activity 8
Imagine you are making a film like ‘Conversations in Spain’. Interview your partner using the questions below.
1. Is learning English compulsory in schools in your country?
2. How important is English for job-seekers in your country?
3. What aspects of learning English are difficult for students in your country?
4. How does the culture or background of people in your country affect their language learning?
5. What tips and advice do you have for other learners of English?
and some questions, which are:
a. What are the challenges for each speaker in learning English in their respective places at every level of education?
b. how do they improve their English competence?
c. Are there any similarities and differences in learning English in Spain and in Indonesia? What else? Explain.
d. Are there similarities and differences in motivation to learn English?
have you watched the conversation in Spain Video, friends?
BalasHapusOh I certainly did.
Hapusyeah, i have watched the video
HapusOf course I watched it
Hapusyes I watched it yesterday it was very interesting to watch
Hapusyes, i have watched that video
Hapusyes i watched the video
Hapusyeah, surely i watched it
HapusSo guys, what do you think are the challenges of each speaker in learning English in their respective places, at every level of education
BalasHapusThey have difficulty when adjusting to the foreign language and tend to experiences the feelings of doubt. In addition, they must face rejection of society.
HapusI think the challenges of each speaker in learning English is learn about grammar and pronunciation. And it's difficult for them to talk because they're afraid of speaking wrongly.
HapusIn my opinion, the challenge of each speaker in learning English in their respective places, at each level of their education is that the first challenge is Limited Study Time, the challenge that must be faced when learning English for the first time is time constraints. Tasks or jobs that pile up often take up our time.
HapusThere will be many challenges that will be passed when learning English at every level of education. At the elementary school level, students must be introduced to basic things in English. At the junior high school level, students begin to be taught to compose sentences according to tenses and also arrange texts according to their structure. At the senior high school level, students will be faced with more detailed material regarding learning English. Finally, at the college level, students will explore more from the very basics to a very detailed division of the English language.
Hapusi think that the first challenge for them is speaking. When they speak English, they don't express it like what the native speaker think. It is faced by all of them. The focus of English lesson is grammar and exercise, and lack of attention to pronunciation. It happens for all level of education. So they are not fluent to speak English. But for higher level like academy, the feeling of shyness is also a challenge. And the feeling of having mistake to speak English also become a challenge for them. They feel afraid to speak English out side of the classroom
HapusNext question, How do they improve their English competence?
BalasHapusThey improve their English with take a private English lesson, practice with the language, learn to like the language, trying to talk, learn grammar and pronunciation from someone who's pronounce very well.
HapusI think, in overall video, I can conclude that all of them train to speak English. Even one of them, Giulo Gola, went and lived in USA. Of course, it would him so much to understand English and it could make him to speak English fluently by practicing English every time. It also happened to Beatriz, She did travelling and visit foreign countries to practice her English, because she would meet so many people to talk in Englsih
Hapussometimes they take language courses,And have a strong desire to learn language
Hapusthey improving their english with private English lesson, practice with the language, learn to like the language, trying to talk with native speaker
HapusAre they any similarities and differentces in English in spain and in Indonesia? whatever? telling you
BalasHapusOf course there are different and the same, the difference is that they really want to learn English. They practice looking for methods and alternatives that can support them in learning. While in Indonesia, they don't learn too much, they just study and don't explore and also don't think too much that they should be able to speak English.
Hapuswhile the difference lies in social treatment where people who learn or are fluent in English are considered strange and wrong, not in accordance with their language and are shunned by their eyes, they think what is the use of learning a language.
Yes, there are similarities and differences in learning English in Spain and in Indonesia, the similarity between teaching English in Indonesia and Spain is the same way of learning at school or in a private English lesson. The difference is, the students are required to start learning English in Spain when they age 6 years old and in Indonesia the children are required to start learning English when they are aged 3 – 11 years through school, private English lessons, and learning through parents.
HapusThere are some similarities. Many tourist from around the world visited Indonesia and Spain, so there are some occasions that students from Spain and Indonesia had given assignment to have conversation with foreign tourists. Then, Indonesia and Spain also focused on structure lessons, and have some problems on pronounciations.
Hapusyeah,Of course there are similarities and differences,similaruties Indonesia and Spain people think about the structure of the grammar too much ,so they too shy to speak in English,differences In Spain people start to learn English in five years old,but Indonesia people neither do it,they start to learn in twelve years old
Hapusyups,there are similarities and differences in learning English in Spain and in Indonesia.
HapusI think there are similarities and differences in learning English in Spain and in Indonesia, the similarity between teaching English in Indonesia and Spain is that English is a foreign language for both countries. So, the process of teaching will not use English fully. Like in Indonesia, English teachers do not speak English from the beginning of the lesson. So, they don’t think as native speakers think. It also happened in Spain. And the focus of English lessons is structure and exercises and students are seldom trained to practice their English. The difference is in the way of teaching. In Spain, students could be taught by native speakers, but in Indonesia, we rarely see native speakers teach English. It is so expensive to pay and invite them, I guess.
HapusAre there similarities and differences in motivation to learn English?
BalasHapusEveryone has different abilities and they have different ways of learning and understanding lessons. as Nuria said that the key to fluent English is to think in English. Meanwhile, according to Giulio Gola, the best way to improve someone's abilities is to start and think that people are not there to judge you.
HapusThere are similarities and differences in motivation to learn English. The similarities Learn english to be a connecting language when speaking with other people from other countries and the difference The motivation of Indonesia to learn English is to make it easier to communicate when traveling abroad and Spain people learn english to improve their english skills making it easier to communicate with foreign tourists
HapusI think everyone has their own way of learning English
HapusWe move to the worksheet questions. There are three questions we can discuss, activity 5, 7, and 8.
BalasHapusWe come to activity 5 first:
"In the next part of the film you are going to watch an interview with
a Spanish English teacher. Before you watch, think of three difficulties
students might have when they learn English in Spain. Then watch the
film and see if your predictions were correct. "
So, what are the difficulties described in the video?
1. Difficult in pronunciation and grammar.
Hapus2. Difficult in developing motivation.
3. Difficult to speak English with other people.
The difficulty experienced by pre-students when learning English in Spain ;
Hapus1. The habit of speaking which in pronunciation, English and Spanish are very much different. allows students to have difficulties in pronunciation or pronunciation of English.
2. Low motivation in students to learn English, so it can make it difficult for students to understand English. If there is no desire in yourself, then learning will be in vain
3. Then the next difficulty is the mindset of students who tend to think that they cannot master English. so that it makes the students feel lazy and don't even like English
1. Difficulty memorizing English vocabulary.
Hapus2. Difficulty mastering English grammar.
3. Difficulty in English pronunciation.
We come to activity 5:
BalasHapus1. In what ways are the difficulties experienced by students in Spain similar to those in your country?
2. The School Director says that English is a requirement for practically any job in Spain. Is this true in your
country? If so, how long has this been the case?
3. Do you agree with Nuria when she says that the key to fluency is thinking in English? If so, what can students do to help themselves develop the habit of thinking in English?
4. To what extent do you agree with Giulio when he says that making mistakes is a way to improve your
English? How do you feel if you make mistakes when you are speaking English?
5. Do you agree with Beatriz when she says that you have to ‘jump’ (get over) the embarrassment you
feel when you are speaking English? If so, what is the best way to do this?
6. The film consisted of 3 conversations (the director, the learner, the teacher). Why do you think the
film makers interviewed people in these roles?
7. What other questions do you think the film should have asked?
8. What did you find most interesting or surprising about the video?
*activity 7
Hapus1.After watching the video I concluded that the same thing was experienced by Spanish and my country students, namely the difficulty in applying English to daily speaking, many students are used to writing and understanding theory but few people can speak correctly and have the correct pronunciation.
Hapus2. That's true, because we don't know what will happen in the next few years where globalization and modernization control everything including work. Almost all jobs require English because English is a global language. If later you travel abroad and meet foreigners and you don't can speak English then you will be confused and lost as well as when you want to work in a hotel and you meet foreign guests of course you have to understand their language, or when you read the description of a product that almost all products are in English.
3. In some occasion English are needed for communication with people from aboard and that is one of the important thing for example you've got guest from US and you have to speak english so they can understand you and you can having a good time with them.
Hapus4. In some extent i agree that mistakes is the way to improving your english because mistakes is the one of way for you to improving your english skill without a mistake nothing that you can learn and what i feel when i make a mistake when speaking english is that i can learn from my mistake instead being felt down
5. Yes, I agree with Beatriz. By getting past shyness, it can make us more confident in using English. The more we interact with people who speak English, the more trained our English will be, the better our pronunciation will be and encourage us to speak and reduce the fear of not building sentences correctly. We have to participate with the language and learn to like the language, so it will be easier when learning it.
6. The filmmakers interviewed the people in the roles because they have different points of view, and they also come from different backgrounds with different ways of teaching English so the difficulties they experience while learning English are different. They also have different solutions to overcome the difficulties they get.
The last one, we come to Activity 8
BalasHapusImagine you are making a film like Conversations in Spain. Interview your partner using the questions below.
1. Is learning English compulsory in schools in your country?
2. How important is English for job-seekers in your country?
3. What aspects of learning English are difficult for students in your country?
4. How does the culture or background of people in your country affect their language learning?
5. What tips and advice do you have for other learners of English?
What do you think guys?
1. English is a foreign language that has long been a compulsory subject in schools in Indonesia, both in junior high and high school.
Hapus2. One's ability to speak English is very important for job seekers in Indonesia because with good English skills a person will be more easily accepted in the world of work. and also when you have the ability to speak English, the opportunity to enter into various big companies around the world is getting wider. The reason is, that large companies have required their employees to be able to speak English
3. Most students choose the most difficult aspect of speaking in learning English. Some of the factors that are the reasons why they choose Speaking are as follows: lack of vocabulary in English, difficulty memorizing, difficulty pronunciation because it is very different from Indonesian, fear of making mistakes, fear of being laughed at by friends, and lack of knowledge of Grammar.