and vocabulary. They are mostly drill exercises and the teacher turns to them whenever he works at enriching pupils 'knowledge in vocabulary and grammar, at improving pupils' pronunciation, etc. For example, reciting a rhyme or a poem is considered to be an excellent oral exercise for drilling pronunciation and for developing speech habits. Making up sentences following the model is an excellent oral exercise for fixing a sentence pattern and words which fit the pattern in the pupils ' mind. Making statements with the words or phrases the teacher gives is another valuable oral exercise which allows the teacher to retain them in his pupils ' memory through manifold repetitions.
Oral exercises are quite indispensable to developing speech. However, they only prepare pupils for speaking and cannot be considered to be "speech" as some teachers are apt to think and who are often satisfied with oral exercises which pupils perform following the model; they seldom use stimuli for developing pupils 'auding and speaking in the target language. [5]
In order to get a better understanding of what speech is we are to consider the psychological and linguistic characteristics of speech.
2.2 Techniques the teacher uses to develop hearing
To fulfil the task the teacher must train his pupils in listening comprehension beginning with the first lesson and throughout the whole period of instruction. These are the techniques the teacher uses for the purpose:
1. The teacher uses the foreign language:
(a) when giving the class instructions;
(b) when presenting new language material (words, sentence patterns);
(c) when checking pupils ' comprehension;
(d) when consolidating the material presented;
(e) when checking pupils 'assimilation of the language material covered.
These are the cases when the target language is used as a means of communication and a means of teaching. There is a great deal of auding in all the points of the lesson. This raises the problem of the teacher's speech during the lesson. It should be correct, sufficiently loud, clear, and expressive. But many of the teachers are too talkative. We can hear them speaking most of the time. Moreover, some teachers speak a great deal in Russian.
Conducting a lesson in a foreign language gives the teacher an opportunity to develop pupils 'abilities in hearing; to train them in listening to him attentively during the lesson; to demonstrate the language as a means of communication; to provide favorable conditions for the assimilation of the language; to perfect his own speaking skills; to keep his own speech under control, i. e., to keep himself from undue talkativeness.
2. The teacher uses drill and speech exercises for developing listening comprehension.
We can group drill exercises into exercises designed for overcoming linguistic difficulties, and exercises which can eliminate psychological difficulties.
The first group of drill exercises includes:
(a) phonetic exercises which will help the teacher to develop his pupils 'ear for English sounds:
- Listen to the following words and raise your hands when you hear the words with [ae] (The teacher says : desk, pen, ten, bag, etc .)
- Listen to the following pairs of words and say in what sound they differ: pen - pin; bed - bad; eyes - ice; white - wide .
(b) lexical exercises which will help the teacher to develop pupils 'skills in recognizing words:
- Listen to the words and recognize the word boy among other words: a baby, a toy, a boat, a boy, a girl.
- Listen to the following words and raise your hands when you hear the words referring to plants: street, tree, grass, class, flower, tower .
- Listen to the following sentences and say whether the word country has the same meaning in both sentences:
I usually spent my holidays in the country. p> The Soviet Union is a large country.
(c) grammar exercises which help the teacher to develop pupils 'skills in recognizing grammar forms and structures:
- Listen to the following words and raise your hands when you hear words in plural: desk, tables, book, box, pens, books, boxes, etc.
- Listen to the following sentences and say in which one the word help is used as a noun.
He can help you. I need his help.
The second group of drill exercises includes:
(a) exercises which help the teacher to develop his pupils 'auditory memory:
- Listen to the following words and try to memorize them. (The teacher pronounces a number of words pointing to the object each denotes: a carrot, a potato, a cucumber, a tomato. Afterwards pupils are told to point to the object the teacher names.) ...
