Tell students to SPEAK to their books!

I had a discussion with one of my colleagues today. While I dealt with the elementary level students, she took the more advanced ones. We were discussing teaching strategies when she told me that the best way to teach students to TALK is to make them WRITE. She asks her students to write atleast something at regular intervals and makes it a point to check it and assign marks or grades to their writing because as she says, "Boys LOVE competition". She asked them to TALK to their books if they weren't comfortable to talk to the class at first. And the best way to talk to your book? With your pen! Just WRITE!
She emphasized that only making them write will do little good if they are not told where they are going right and where wrong. We have EVALUATE them every WEEK (preferably by an 'outside' teacher). For Basic students she suggested that we give them not whole essays but just sentences, say ten having the simple present tense, ten with present progressive, and so on.

When it came to speaking before an audience, she suggested making them talk in their OWN language first. That helps losen up stage fright. Stage fright kinda doubles when there's the added pressure of speaking in an alien language. Later we could give them ready lists of topic related vocab which they could refer whenever the uncomfortable 'umms' and 'uhhs' set in.
Plus, she selects a few really good students, makes them group leaders and makes them responsible forALL the students in their group. She then gives them topics for group discussion, which each group discusses amongst themselves, and then presents their views ONE BY ONE infront of the whole class. If ALL the group memebers don't speak, well then the group does not get any marks. And I guess I can add to that, "Boys HATE to lose in competitions!"
I think contests can always been used to our advantage. They give the students something to look forward to. Keeps them on their toes and gives you a feedback too.
She said something about getting the student to become better, the better ones to become the best and the best to become simply excellent. If that doesn't happen, well we are lagging somewhere then. Thanks Zenab!