[crisholm]

I do not really agree with the last comment as to the need for native teachers - native from where? The Orkneys, Australia, the Bronx, Michigan, Idaho, Glasgow, Ardrossan, Sussex? Which accent, which lexis? With so many good materials online and to be bought, and such wide access to the mass media, native teachers are not the point any more. Teachers need good training to help students learn; of course they must provide a good linguistic model in all senses. The Common European Framework provides realistic goals for each of the stages of language acquisition (I agree with previos posts referring to ALTE etc.)
There are lots of speaking activities (individual and interactive) that can be carried out with starter or elementary level students. Moreover, they feel they are doing something with the language they are learning.