How to Teach Reported Speech
1.6.-How to Teach Reported Speech – Review – Practice & Lesson plan
Teaching students reported or indirect speech can be complicated by the all the changes that are required when moving from direct speech into reported speech. First off, students should understand that reported speech is quite useful in conversational English as relating what someone has said using "quote" and "unquote" is awkward at best. A further aspect of reported speech is encouraging students to use other reporting verbs beyond "say" and "tell".
Introducing Reported Speech
Start with Tenses
I find it best to start off with simple examples in which changes are only made in tense. For example:
Write on the Board:
Direct Speech
Tom said, "I enjoy watching action movies." becomes Indirect Speech Tom said he enjoyed watching action movies.
Direct Speech
Anna told me, "I went to the shopping mall." becomes Indirect Speech Anna told me she had gone to the shopping mall.
Move on to Pronouns and Time Expressions
Once students have understood the basic concept of stepping one step back into the past when reporting in the past, they can easily begin to make the minor changes in pronoun and time expression usage. For example:
Write on the Board:
Direct Speech
The teacher said, "We 're working on the present continuous today." becomes Indirect Speech The teacher said we were working on the present continuous that day.
Direct Speech
Anna told me, "My brother Tom has been to Paris twice this year." becomes Indirect Speech Anna told me her brother Tom had been to Paris twice that year.
Once students have become comfortable with direct to indirect speech transformations, practice reporting through the use of interviews as in this reported speech lesson plan:
The use of reported speech is especially important at higher English levels. Students, at this point, are fine tuning their communication skills to include expressing the ideas of others, as well as their own
Teaching students reported or indirect speech can be complicated by the all the changes that are required when moving from direct speech into reported speech. First off, students should understand that reported speech is quite useful in conversational English as relating what someone has said using "quote" and "unquote" is awkward at best. A further aspect of reported speech is encouraging students to use other reporting verbs beyond "say" and "tell".
Introducing Reported Speech
Start with Tenses
I find it best to start off with simple examples in which changes are only made in tense. For example:
Write on the Board:
Direct Speech
Tom said, "I enjoy watching action movies." becomes Indirect Speech Tom said he enjoyed watching action movies.
Direct Speech
Anna told me, "I went to the shopping mall." becomes Indirect Speech Anna told me she had gone to the shopping mall.
Move on to Pronouns and Time Expressions
Once students have understood the basic concept of stepping one step back into the past when reporting in the past, they can easily begin to make the minor changes in pronoun and time expression usage. For example:
Write on the Board:
Direct Speech
The teacher said, "We 're working on the present continuous today." becomes Indirect Speech The teacher said we were working on the present continuous that day.
Direct Speech
Anna told me, "My brother Tom has been to Paris twice this year." becomes Indirect Speech Anna told me her brother Tom had been to Paris twice that year.
Once students have become comfortable with direct to indirect speech transformations, practice reporting through the use of interviews as in this reported speech lesson plan:
The use of reported speech is especially important at higher English levels. Students, at this point, are fine tuning their communication skills to include expressing the ideas of others, as well as their own