Teacher Talk Time and Student Talk Time

Teacher Talk Time / Student Talk Time By CotterHUE Most teachers readily agree that the students should receive as much opportunity to speak as is possible when learning English as a foreign language. This idea is especially true in the EFL classroom, where students don't live in an English-speaking country. In such cases, the students may only have the chance to practice English as a conversational tool during the sixty or ninety minutes of the lesson. But whatever the situation, the more students speak in English, the better English speakers they become. But what should the balance be between teacher talk time and student talk time? It's best to consider talk time in the following percentages. Students should speak for 70% of the lesson. Teachers should speak for 30% of the time. Of course, some lessons may require longer explanations on the part of the teacher. Or other lessons may only require a minimal amount of explanation, and 90% or more may be devoted to conversational activities. But this 70/30 figure works well as a goal in most classroom situations. Consider the following positive and negative examples as well: Positive: 1. The teacher praises students. 2. The teacher provides feedback, correction, and possible guidance. 3. The teacher presents information or gives instructions. 4. The teacher sets up and/or demonstrates activities. Negative: 1. The teacher offers personal anecdotes that don't connect to the lesson. 2. The teacher speaks too quickly (or slowly) for the level of students. 3. The teacher offers too much correction. 4. The teacher explains the target language for too much. 5. The teacher excessively uses slang and fillers. How does the 70/30 figure get affected by specific activities? Listening activities, examples from the teacher, demonstrating an activity... all can affect talk time. Let's look at some of the following examples to better highlight good use of talk time. Effective: 1. The teacher reads a paragraph as part of a listening activity. The teacher speaks most of this time, as he reads the monologue several times and asks comprehension questions. However, his talk time can be deemed effective because the students get to practice their listening and comprehension skills. To increase the effectiveness, though, the listening activity could segue into another activity. Maybe the students could pick out idioms and try to use them in subsequent conversations. Maybe the students could imagine subsequent events from the monologue, or rewrite it as a dialogue. Maybe the students could summarize the monologue in their own words. 2. The teacher provides examples before eliciting a few more sentences from the class on a particularly difficult grammar point. Although his talk time is quite high here, the class can better use the form and function of the language. In other words, they know the structure of the target language, how to use it, and why to use it. This translates into better and more accurate usage both later in the lesson and out in the real world. 3. The teacher explains an activity's directions step by step, then demonstrates the activity with a student. Last, he checks confirmation with a few questions, such as "What will you do first?" and "How about after that?" Again, the talk time is high, but students can immediately begin the activity without confusion. How about student talk time? A lot has been said so far regarding the teacher's talk time. For students, the most effective use of their time occurs when they are actively using the target language. This can come in the form of drills early in the lesson or as part of a meaningful conversational activity later. Be careful of the following negatives, though. Ineffective: 1. Students drill the target language throughout much of the lesson, and don't have the chance to use the new grammar or vocabulary with previously studied material. Drills are great to set the pattern of the target language, but students won't know how to use the language outside of these narrowly defined parameters. If students are still practicing with drills towards the end of the class, then the teacher may have introduced too much in the lesson. Retention will drop, and talk time will be rendered ineffective. 2. Students don't practice the target language enough in drills, and so make numerous mistakes with the grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and so on. If this continues during the whole class, then students may not understand how to correctly use the target language. They will continue to make the same mistakes outside of the class. Although the students may have spoken a lot during the lesson, they used the target language incorrectly. Again, this translates into ineffective talk time. 3. The teacher talks or calls on students one at a time. Although the talk time for the class may be roughly 70%, individual talk time is quite low. In a class of ten during a one-hour session, answering questions one by one translates to six minutes of talk time for each student. This isn't enough of an opportunity to speak and practice the material! A better course of action would be to pair up the students, have them practice in drills and free(r) activities throughout the lesson. Two students speaking in pairs for one hour would mean roughly thirty minutes each of talk time, which is a huge difference! http://www.eltnews.com/discussions/thinktank/2009/10/what_are_some_ways_to_maxi mize.html Think Tank This Month's Think Tank Panel Dorothy Zemach Chuck Sandy Curtis Kelly Peter Viney Marc Helgesen November 2009 Topic: What Are Some Ways to Maximize Student Talk Time? Dorothy Zemach Modeling Student Talk If I use the dictionary function on MS Word, I get these definitions for “maximize”: enlarge; and then also make the most of. I don’t always want students to talk more. Sometimes, I want them to listen, or to summarize briefly, or to respond in writing. However, I do want to “make the most of” their talking time; in essence, to talk better. These days, many textbooks are set up to give students “communicative tasks,” where they speak English to exchange information. Often, there is some sort of deed to be done—A has the information that B needs, and B has the information that A needs, and they speak to exchange their information and fill in their charts or solve the puzzle or whatever end goal there is. Those can be enjoyable tasks, but the downside of overdoing them is that students get used to seeing every speaking task as a sort of info gap: That is, there is information that must be exchanged, and so once it is exchanged, the task is over. It’s a fine method for completing one’s “Find Someone Who” worksheet, but it fails miserably for a discussion. Discussion questions look like they’re asking for information (that is, students’ opinions on a topic, or answers to some questions), but so much more goes on in a good discussion. Participants might make or respond to jokes, show off, show understanding or sympathy, address new topics, search for new vocabulary, let off steam, learn and teach information about the topic, express frustration, and so on. Students get used to seeing every speaking task as a sort of info gap: That is, there is information that must be exchanged, and so once it is exchanged, the task is over. I remember one lesson in particular with a small group of trainees at Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) whom I’d had in class for about six months. They had a good command of vocabulary and grammar, they were lively and engaged, and of course they were happy to be in English class instead of back at their desks. We had a unit in the textbook on receiving visitors, leading up to office and factory tours; quite relevant for these trainees, since they used English primarily for receiving overseas visitors and then showing them around. There was vocabulary to be learned and dialogues to practice and functions to employ, but first there were (as there often are in textbooks) some warm-up questions. In my mind, they’d spend about 15 minutes on these warm-up questions (though I was prepared to go longer), during which they’d bring up the necessary vocabulary that they knew, as well as signal to me what they didn’t know. Also, I’d get a feel for their past experiences and needs. There were two questions, more or less like this: 1) Have you ever received a visitor at your company? Who? 2) Where did you meet him or her? As it turned out that day, I had four trainees in class, so I put them in pairs. And in each pair, the “discussion” went like this: A: Ah … B-san, “Have you ever received a visitor at your company? Who?” B: Ah … yes. Sato-san. A: OK. “Where did you meet him or her?” B: At … Kansai Kuukou. A: Airport. B: Airport. OK, switch. A-san, “Have you ever received a visitor at your company? Who?” A: No. B: “Where did you…” Ah, so ka. “No.” (both laugh) They looked at me expectantly. Time for the listening! Epic fail, as the gamers would say. I sighed. The students were perplexed. They asked if they’d done something wrong. “It wasn’t what I was expecting,” I said. A nodded in understanding. “ ‘No, I haven’t,’ right?” No, I said, it wasn’t the grammar, it was the information. True confusion now. “But … I only met Sato,” said B, a bit apologetically. And I laughed. Naturally, they wanted to know what was so funny. Well, we had time, so I thought, why not talk about it? “What is the purpose of these questions?” I asked. They had the look of students expecting some sort of trick. “To know what visitors we met?” asked A. No! Here was our problem. I explained that I actually didn’t care how many people they’d met, or who, or where. The purpose of the questions was to bring up vocabulary and functions and grammar necessary to talk about receiving visitors, and to talk about issues concerning visitors, particularly international visitors, and to practice meeting visitors in English over and over again until they could do it comfortably on their own. Then, I modeled what I had been hoping for. I went over and sat with the students and role-played the discussion myself, taking the part of both students, like this: A: Hi, B-san. Receiving visitors. I don’t have much experience with that topic. B: Really? I do. A: Oh? Have you ever received any visitors? B: Yes, only one time. But I think I’ll meet more in the future, because it’s part of my job now. A: Who did you meet? B: Mr. Sato from the Head Office. A: Did you already know him? B: A little. I hadn’t met him before, but I speak to him on the phone almost every week. A: How did you know who he was, then? Did you make a sign with his name? B: No, I knew his picture from (checks with imaginary teacher for vocabulary help, and gets it) the Intranet. A: Did he look like his picture? B: Actually, not really. His hair was longer. But you know, he was carrying a blue SEI shopping bag. So I knew it was him. And so on. The students looked amazed. Truly. They’d had no idea, no idea at all, that this was what I might want; just as I’d had no idea that they didn’t know. They weren’t being uncooperative; they didn’t lack vocabulary or grammar or energy; they weren’t bored. They just didn’t know what my expectations were, or even the purpose of the exercise. Once they knew what to do, they put the books down and had a good 20-minute discussion on the topic, and ended energized for the rest of the lesson. I’m a huge modeler now, and I don’t wait for things to go wrong first. I’m a huge modeler now, and I don’t wait for things to go wrong first. Whether I want brief, focused answers or a meandering discussion, I never want to turn students loose on a task if they don’t know what its purpose is or how to do it. Dorothy E. Zemach is an ESL materials writer, editor, and teacher trainer from Oregon. She is a frequent plenary presenter at conferences, a columnist for TESOL’s Essential Teacher magazine, and has written over 15 ESL textbooks, including Sentence Writing,Paragraph Writing,Success With College Writing, and Get Ready For Business(Macmillan) and Writers at Work: The Essay (Cambridge University Press). Current interests include the teaching of writing, EAP, business English, testing, and humor in ESL materials and the profession. Chuck Sandy It's Not About Technique Although I do have a variety of techniques that help maximize talk time for everyone in my classes, those techniques really are not very important. They’re just little tricks I’ve developed over the years and are hardly worth mentioning. I’ll share one of them with you, but I want to tell you right now: it’s not about technique. In my bag there’s always a small ball made of fabric. It’s colorful and soft and could never hurt anyone. Whenever I ask a question in class I wait a few seconds and then toss it out to whomever I see making eye contact with me. That person catches the little ball, answers the question, and then tosses the ball on to someone else. It’s then that person’s turn. Sometimes I gently clap my hands and gesture that I’d like the ball back for a moment to clarify something or make a comment or redirect the flow of the work. The key here is playfulness and a spirit of fun. The key here is playfulness and a spirit of fun. I do this in small classes where students sit in a circle and in very large lecture classes where students sit at desks arranged in long rows. Whatever the class size or situation, I usually find that after awhile the physical ball becomes unnecessary. Until it does, I teach little strategies such as having the thrower make eye contact with the person he or she wishes to toss the ball to and say that person’s name with a rising intonation before throwing it. As the catcher catches the ball, he or she holds the eye contact and says uh huh. Then the thrower goes on to ask the question. In classes in which the focus is on oral communication this almost always involves some sort of personalized language practice. In lecture classes it usually involves a response to some sort of discussion question and so the strategy taught might be having the thrower say something like What do you think about that? after making eye contact and saying the person’s name. Then of course the catcher is going to need some hesitation device to use while figuring our just what it is he or she thinks about that, so I teach students how to use Hmmm, let me think about that or well. Now, just imagine you’ve thrown me the ball: You: Chuck? Chuck: Uh huh? You: Do you think it's enough to just get students talking in English? Chuck: Well ... ... to tell you the truth, no I don’t. I’ve been to plenty of classrooms where there’s a lot of talk going on, but nothing much being said. In these classrooms the focus is on language rather than on people. Lessons are built around the dialogue, the meaningful drill, the little role-play, and the fun game. There’s a lot going on and it looks like communication -- but it really isn’t. It’s just craft and practice. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to work at maximizing this kind of thing. Too often language teachers see themselves as practitioners of a craft or facilitators of practice, armed with activities and tasks, exercises and games all designed to maximize talk time. Too often, though, these very things designed to maximize output, become a wall that blocks real communication. In a recent study conducted by Anne Burns it was shown that output actually increased when students were off task and communicating freely with the teacher. I’ve been to plenty of classrooms where there’s a lot of talk going on, but nothing much being said. This is not to suggest in any way that teachers should dispense with activities, games, and tasks, but to point out that it’s often the less structured moments of a class which prove to be the most fruitful and that teachers should be aware of them and ready to follow such moments to where they lead. It’s also to say that a good language teacher is no different than a good teacher of any other subject, for as any good teacher does, a good language teacher creates a comfortable classroom with positive group dynamics where spontaneity is valued and everyone has a chance to be heard. In addition, like all effective teachers, the effective language teacher uses relevant, intriguing materials as a springboard and not as a means to a particular end. Such materials allow for digressions and leave room for spontaneity and allow both teacher and students to ask real questions of value which go as far as possible beyond the simple comprehension questions most of us rely upon. Therefore, the effective language teacher, like all effective teachers, thinks about the types of questions he or she asks and realizes that it’s not the teacher’s voice in the classroom that’s central, but the voices of students. Finally, like all the best teachers, the effective language teacher is approachable outside of class as well as in. I’ve found that one of the most effective ways of increasing communication and maximizing talk time has been to arrive in my classroom early and to stay late -- then later to leave my office door open. If you want to maximize talk time, just remember this: it’s not about technique. Now, would you please toss someone else the ball? Chuck Sandy is a teacher, teacher trainer, ELT author, essayist and poet who has most recently coauthored the Active Skills for Communication series with Curtis Kelly. He also recently completed work on a second edition of his popular upper-intermediate level series Passages Second Edition with Jack Richards, and is coauthor (with Jack Richards and Carlos Baribsan) of the junior / senior high school level series Connect. He is a frequent presenter at conferences and schools around the world where he most often speaks about the joys of project work and the need for materials and practices that promote critical thinking. Got Facebook? Then, join Chuck (and Curtis) and over 1800 dedicated teachers from around the world on the global teachers discussion page for an ongoing conversation about education. Curtis Kelly From Task Analysis To Reward Analysis This month’s question, “How do you maximize student talk time?” is an interesting one. I am going to make a few assumptions. I’ll assume a) the talking is done in pairs or groups (otherwise a choral reading is the best answer) b) the talking is interactive (otherwise speech-giving will suffice), and c) the talking is communicative, meaning that the listener does not know beforehand what the speaker will say (otherwise, the best answer is dialog reading). In short, we need to think about how to keep students talking in conversation or discussion activities. The traditional answer for this question, and still a good one, is to do a task analysis. Task analysis means analyzing what the students are instructed to do by breaking it down into its parts and examining each. For example, how many steps or actions are needed to complete the overall task? Are the instructions clear enough for the learners to know exactly what to do? Is the task comprehensible in their culture? Are the graphics relevant? Do students have the language needed to complete the task? Is the environment conducive for doing so, such as the seating arrangement, noise level, etc.? Are there any other factors that might interfere with task completion, such as a task that embarrasses a learner, or problems with partners? Usually, when an activity fails, the cause can be explained by one of the reasons above. The students might not know what to do because the instructions are vague, or because they never did anything like this before. They might start in English but slip into Japanese because the activity is poorly scaffolded, or because they can’t see what the teacher wrote on the board. There are dozens of possible flaws that can bring an activity to a halt, and in my experience they are hard to predict. That is why I insist on testing each activity in class before putting it into a textbook. I remember trying an activity once where students were supposed to discuss which of their classmates they thought was the “smartest.” Most of them tried to find the “thinnest” member of the class. More recently, I asked students to talk about their favorite foods with a partner. I modeled the activity and wrote a few of my own examples on the board. I later noticed that about a third of the students were just using the phrases I had written on the board, thinking that this was the task, presumably because they almost never talked about themselves in high school English classes. However, there are other times when the mechanics, instructions, and all the other task bits are good, but the activity still fizzles out. The students just do the minimum and quit. At times like these, it is easy to blame the students for not engaging, but the real reason for the halt is that the activity doesn’t have enough “pull.” They just comply with the “push,” and do the minimum necessary to get it over with. In this regard, task analysis is a bit weak at determining the level of engagement an activity will engender. It occurred to me recently, while studying the neuroscience of learning, that we need another means of evaluation as well, which I like to call “reward analysis.” Because of the way our brains work, the inherent reward of the activity not only “maximizes student talk time,” it also maximizes acquisition. Consider. The brain evolved as a tool for survival. As a result, our brains are highly selective in what they pay attention to and retain. Consider. The brain evolved as a tool for survival. As a result, our brains are highly selective in what they pay attention to and retain. In fact, we have great difficulty paying attention to or retaining anything that is not personally relevant, either directly, or metaphorically. As neuroscientist Read Montague says, and as advertisers know, the things that really catch our attention are death, sex, and food. (The first two are taboo, so that is why many textbook activities deal with eating.) Well, we can expand this list to include other areas, but the trick is to make sure that the topic is relevant to the learner, not just to the teacher or institution. How many times, for example, have you heard a teacher complain: “They don’t study. Don’t they realize how important English is for their future?” Of course not, at least not at the gut level, because they haven’t experienced that future yet, even if we have. So, how can we use reward analysis with Japanese high school and college students to maximize talking? Assuming the level, instructions, graphics, and all the other task components are right on, what kinds of topics will keep students engaged? Knowing that our learners like sports, shopping, movies, etc, is a good start, but these topics alone are not the end. You can just as easily put a class to sleep by having them discuss the French movie John bought for his hockey player friend. Instead, knowing why they like sports, shopping, and movies, etc. is the crux. And the reason is that they are going through what developmental psychologists call “moral development.” As I have discussed in other Think Tank articles, moral development is the greatest sociological/psychological task all teens face. It means finding themselves, establishing their identities, by determining what they think is right, who they like, finding goals, etc. It is driven by their intense biologically-based need at this age to gain autonomy. We can do better than just saying they like sports, shopping, and movies; we can say they like these activities because they have a need show their competence, to express themselves, and to figure out the rights and wrongs of the world. This is also why many of them are so attracted to English, because it represents a counter-culture of independence. (… and classes taught by native speakers, not because they are non-Japanese, but because of the types of activities they tend to use lets students interact.) So, with reward analysis, we can identify the topics that sustain student interest: those that let them share what is personally meaningful. However, even more important than “topics” for satisfying their deeper psychological needs – the need to bond, to gain self-esteem, to discover, and others – are the activities themselves. In my 30 years of teaching Japanese learners, I have found that having students make something, solve a problem, figure something out about life, and most importantly, share something meaningful with peers, gets the most mileage. In concrete terms, that might mean having them discuss something that changed their life, explain a childhood experience, propose a class party, discuss the kind of partner they want, solve an information gap mystery, negotiate a fashion remake, and so on. Making students feel creative, smart, cared about, or self-aware, is the basis for every activity I write. Indeed, making students feel creative, smart, cared about, or self-aware, is the basis for every activity I write, whether for a textbook or for just my own use in class. Curtis Kelly (EDD) is a specialist in adult education, writing and speaking instruction, and brain-based learning. He has given over 250 presentations and written 17 books, including the Writing from Within and the Active Skills for Communication series. Got Facebook? Then, join Curtis (and Chuck) and over 1800 dedicated teachers from around the world on the global teachers discussion page for an ongoing conversation about education. Peter Viney Maximizing Student Talking Time Twenty-five years ago I was at a conference in Germany. I was speaking, and one of my fellow speakers was something of an ELT guru, who shall be nameless. Then any lesson observation notes in teacher training kicked off with Student Talking Time vs. Teacher talking Time. Now this particular guru was a great advocate of paired and group activities, and on minimizing the intervention of the teacher into all that communication in English which was naturally taking place in his imagination. About three hundred people attended his talk and three minutes in, we were told to get into groups of four. Seven or eight minutes later, we’d assembled our groups of four amidst much confusion. We couldn’t agree which handout we’d been told to work our way through, because we’d all forgotten it during the fuss of assembling a group and noisily shifting our metal chairs. So we argued about that for a few minutes. It was too noisy for us to be able to ask our guru. We argued in English, we were, after all teachers of English. Handout settled, we worked ten minutes before we were stopped, and the guru spoke for two minutes. Incredibly, given the size of the audience we were told to assemble in new groups. Five minutes more of shuffling chairs and negotiating ensued. We then went through a list of questions about maximizing student talking time. Five minutes before the end of the talk, we were told to assess what we had learned today … in the groups, of course. My group of German high school teachers were furious. They had paid to come to the conference, and they had travelled a long way. They had not come to talk to each other, like they said, but to listen to native speakers and hopefully to glean ideas from the experts. They had taken the trouble to read the guru’s book in advance, and had discussed it. They all taught at the same school and had travelled together in the same mini-bus. They wanted to hear him talk. They were kind enough to say they were lucky to have been in a group with one of the very few native speakers in the room (me), but they dismissed the guru as “a really bad teacher.” I admired their confidence. So often in similar situations, I’ve watched teachers being perplexed, worried, and finally dismissive of the experts, but still feeling glad to have basked in the light of the guru’s presence. The German teachers simply saw that the Emperor was wearing no clothes. The most appropriate medium for communication between one and three hundred is a lecture. It’s not impossible to do pair work with three hundred, though group work is really too complex to set up unless you have a “cabaret” seating arrangement where people are already seated around tables in small groups. When I was teaching in Britain in the 70s and 80s, my students had four lessons a day in classes of fifteen, plus two supplementary “lectures” a day. These lectures would be with ten classes assembled together, and they took place in a lecture room. We didn’t actually do “lectures” but we used to have short acted out dialogues with two teachers; students listening to and then singing English pop songs; or the BBC “On We Go” video series. We did repetition, drills, questions and pair work with one hundred and fifty. The proportion of pair work to teacher-centred work is the important factor. My ELT guru had it around 10 to 1. With very large numbers, I’d reverse that. Maximizing Student Talking Time (MSTT) has become a mantra, often repeated without analyzing the content. Maximizing Student Talking Time (MSTT) has become a mantra, often repeated without analyzing the content. It is a given that MSTT is a “good thing.” But, as usual, you should question all received wisdom. Does it mean Student Talking Time, or Student Vocalizing Time? I’ve seen very teacher controlled classes with lots of student vocalization (repetition and drilling) but I wouldn’t call that “conversation” though it is “talking.” Teacher controlled interaction questions are Student Talking Time. (Do you like tea? Ask him. Ask me. Ask her about coffee. Ask him about hot chocolate, etc). More often, it means pair work and group work. The main question though is how to deal with “talk about what?” Students won’t hold forth in a foreign language without a model, a clear task, and motivation. This should be self-evident. At one point, I had to watch and evaluate twenty or thirty people teaching every summer. I still laugh at the memory of the most highly-qualified candidate, fresh from earning an Applied Linguistics doctorate. Confronted with a class of Arab beginners, his task was to introduce adverbs of frequency for the first time in his life, and with material of his own choice. Among the things he said in the first ten minutes were “Let’s brainstorm some adverbs of frequency! Get in pairs and make a list” and “Ali, What do you think about adverbs of frequency?” He then asked them to underline the adverbs of frequency in an authentic piece from The Guardian newspaper. He didn’t have a clue about who he was teaching, and was singularly insensitive to student looks of total incomprehension. At the end of this, one of the few lessons where I had to fight the urge to just stand up and take over, he asked, “Any questions?” With remarkably good inflection and with a hint of bitterness one student just said “Are you a teacher?” The candidate was even more perplexed when I said I’d been introducing adverbs of frequency to beginners for years, and had only used the words “adverbs of frequency” a few times in initial lessons. Talking won’t ‘just happen’ and it is but one factor in lessons that should involve listening, reading, moving about, doing things, writing a few words, getting involved in the content of a text, listening to grammar explanations, looking at pictures and diagrams, watching things acted out, watching things demonstrated, singing, maybe yawning a bit, and laughing sometimes too. As a postscript, Total Physical Response (TPR) suggests that beginner students benefit from a silent period of comprehending, and responding to instructions, before being exposed to potential ridicule and embarrassment while getting your tongue around those weird foreign noises. I’ve often said that TPR is akin to becoming an expert footballer by sitting on a couch watching football on TV rather than playing it. Even so, some TPR activities will boost confidence, and learning will be taking place without vocalizing, but with a classroom we can do better. Peter Viney is the co-author of IN English:, Survival English / Basic Survival, Handshake, Grapevine, and Streamline. He has written thirteen video courses, and has recently finished work on a major video self-study project. He lives in Poole, UK. Peter and Karen Viney’s website is at www.viney.uk.com　 Peter’s forthcoming book is Fast Track to Reading published by Garnet Education. Marc Helgesen How do we maximize student talk time? There a French proverb that I like a lot: The way to become a blacksmith is to be a blacksmith. If you want to become a blacksmith, you don’t read about blacksmithing, you do things blacksmiths do. The same holds true for becoming an English speaker – the students need to speak English to learn English. English is not only the goal, it is also the pathway to that goal. Of course, nothing is as simple as it is sometimes made out to be. Students need comprehensible input through reading and listening, including comprehensible input from the teacher. And we know that giving a minute or two of “think time” before a speaking task increases fluency, linguistic complexity, accuracy, and vocabulary variety. And, of course, not every English class is a speaking class. But in conversation classes, the students should be doing most of the talking. If you want to become a blacksmith, you don’t read about blacksmithing, you do things blacksmiths do. The same holds true for becoming an English speaker. A couple years ago I was on sabbatical. One of my projects was to observe classes in a range of situations around Japan, Korea, and Thailand. My publisher organized these so, in most cases, the classes were using textbooks I had written. It was fascinating and delightful to see the ways teachers took my materials and made them their own. Well, usually fascinating and delightful. In a very few cases, I observed classes where it was clear the teacher really didn’t know how to organize a speaking class. In most of those classes, there was a constant babble from the teacher – if comprehensible input is i+1 (the learners current level plus a slight increase), this was more like i+50. The students were left clueless about what to do. They also got very little practice actually using English. It was a shame. These were teachers who I know wanted the learners to succeed and, in most cases, were students who did, too. It made me want to do what writers to: write something. I wrote a couple skill sheets about ways to maximize student speaking time. I wrote them so the publishers rep’s would have something to give to teachers, especially those teachers who were new to teaching English or who may not have had much training. I’ve revised the skill sheets here to make them less tied to any particular textbook. I’m leaving them in “skill sheet” form, rather than the usual prose of this blog because I thought the “bullet point” approach may be more useful for busy teachers. Have a look at them here: Maximizing Learner Speaking Time How to Maximize Learner Speaking Time The first suggests the basic ideas. The second one (How to maximize…” gives more step-by-step” suggestions. I hope you find them useful. If you do, feel free to copy them to share with colleagues. Marc Helgesen is professor at Miyagi Gakuin Women's University, Sendai and adjunct at Teachers College Columbia University MA TESOL Program - Tokyo. He is an author of over 100 articles, books, and textbooks including the English Firsthand series and has lead teacher development workshops on five continents. Marc also maintains the ELT and the Science of Happiness website to distribute ELT/Positive Psychology downloads and a website for various presentation handouts. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/knowledge-wiki/teacher-talking-time Maximizing Student Talk Time Mid Year Conference January 22nd, 2007 Presented by Masahiko Mikami & Brett Stendell  Warm-Up  Theoretical Considerations for Successful Speaking Activities  The Basics—Phonics!  A Look at Suggested Activities  Assessing, Tinkering & Presenting  A Room Full of Teachers  Conclusion TABLE OF CONTENTS Warm-up: Find Someone Who………….………………………1 Why Encourage Speaking?..………………………………….2-3 Some Basic Theory……………………………………………..4-6 Phonics…………………………………………………………….7-11 (Suggested Activities) Warm-Ups………………………………………………………..12-16 Short Activities, 15-20 minutes………………………….17-24 Extended Activities (Over Several Classes)…………25-28 Contact Information: Brett Stendell @ Atago Junior High School Phone: 022-225-7458 email: tsuki_lover@yahoo.com Masahiko Mikami @ Atago Junior High School Phone: 022-225-7458 email: masahiko@sendai-c.ed.jp I. Warm-up: Find Someone Who… Formulate questions which will solicit affirmative answers to the prompts provided below (for example, “Do you have a blue bicycle?”). Continue asking the question until you find someone who can answer “yes” and then write that person’s name in the space provided. Add two more questions of your own at the bottom of the list. ____________________ has a blue bicycle. ____________________ can play the guitar. ____________________ teaches in Matsushima. ____________________ has a birthday in the fall. ____________________ has lived abroad for more than one year. ____________________ has children (or a child). ____________________ ate at a restaurant last weekend. ____________________ has taught English for more than 10 years. ____________________ commutes to work by bicycle. ____________________ has been to more than 10 countries. ____________________ is the youngest child in the family. ____________________ can speak Spanish. ________________________________________________________. ________________________________________________________. II. Why Encourage Speaking? Oral Communication and Japanese students: Evidence of a Problem      (Non)conversations with students outside of class “How are you?” (Same response.) “How old are you?” (Lost look.) “What are your hobbies?” (Looks to friend.) Students’ inability to form questions (“What do you like colors?”)  Outside of the “target grammar” structure of the JHS classroom, students are generally unable to carry the most basic conversation. I believe that one reason for this is because they have been taught to rely too heavily on form (accuracy) and not enough on communication (fluency).  Long-term vs. Short-term memory Retention…Dangers of Flashcards  Reading Aloud as “Speaking” So how can we as English Language Teachers change this pattern? What are the components of a “successful” Speaking Activity? With a partner who is NOT your ALT/JTE, please list three things that you feel are important when designing Speaking Activities. Possible Reasons for the Communication Breakdown: 1. Teacher-Centered Classes Solution: Create student-centered activities. Students should be doing most of the talking. Teachers should step back and monitor. 2. Low Motivation for Students Solution: Use English everywhere: in the hallway, in the teacher’s room, with other English teachers. Show students that English is real! 3. Real Life Situations in Class are Rare…Adherence to Textbook Solution: Make English tangible, not just another textbook to study. Do role-plays & skits. Include a cultural context. 4. Adherence to Form and Practice Patterns (“Repeat after me…” “Read this sentence…”) Solution: Give students a chance to use the grammar by doing more communicative activities. Continual isolation of the grammar prevents students from incorporating it into a larger context. 5. Students Never Create Language Solution: Let the students be in charge of creating language. Do more free-talking. Begin each class with a conversation topic. Other possible reasons… • Few Opportunities to Use English • Emphasis on Standardized Tests • Students’ belief that English is 無理！ III. Points to Remember When Teaching Speaking Speaking Activities should ideally allow students to use any and all language at their command, not just a prescribed sentence pattern or grammar point. WHY?  It allows students to “get the feel” of communicating in a foreign language. Simply reading a target sentence off a piece of paper is NOT communicating (nor is it an effective Speaking Activity as it does not activate the long-term memory).  It provides feedback. Speaking Activities allow the teacher and the students to discover which points need review and which points have been successfully learned.  Good Speaking Activities should be motivating and should build confidence in the students. This will encourage them to try harder. FOUR things students need when being introduced to new language: 1. 2. 3. 4. They must be exposed to it—--hear it used in context by the teacher. They must understand its meaning—--know when to use it. They must understand its form—--know how to use it. They must use it. And use it again…and again----they must activate it.  From How to Teach English. Harmer, Jeremy. Longman 1991. ARC: Authentic, Restricted, Clarification Authentic… Activities where language use is not restricted. Students have an opportunity to use all of the language they know to really communicate. Restricted… Activities that offer opportunities for language practice, for improving accuracy, for testing, for display. Clarification… Teacher explanation; reference to a grammar book; etc.  From “ARC: a descriptive model for classroom work on language” in Challenge and Change in Language Teaching. Scrivener, Jim. Ed. Willis, Jane. Macmillan Heineman 1998. Further Considerations for Assessing Students’ Communicative Abilities: 1. Accuracy… How well is the language produced in relation to the rules of the target grammar? 2. Complexity… How ambitious is the language which students produce? 3. Fluency… How well can students produce language in real time without undue pausing or hesitation?  It is important for us as language teachers to create situations which maximize the chances for a balance between these different goals when planning speaking activities. Argument in Favor of Targeting Fluency: If too much attention is paid to specific language forms (i.e. targeted grammar) a particular mind set will be induced in students. When pressure is applied to students to (a) conform to the use of certain structures and to (b) use these accurately, the less likely it is that students will achieve acceptable levels of fluency and use “riskier” language structures (26). However, the problem is… …that relying too heavily on a “communicative approach” gives students greater fluency but may be limiting in the long-term. Students gain the ability to solve communication problems quickly using chunks of readily available language, but may be unable to make measurable language progress in terms of language precision over the long-term (22). The biggest challenge…. What do we do with the low-level learner? How can we apply this to them?  From “Second language acquisition research and task-based instruction” in Challenge and Change in Language Teaching. Skehan, Peter. Ed. Willis, Jane. Macmillan Heineman 1998. IV. Phonics…to help with Pronunciation! The 1-nensei textbook jumps from the ABCs to “Hi, I am Yuki” with no intermediate step in between. What this insures for students is an inability to spell and an inability to pronounce new words when they are encountered. An understanding of phonics is crucial for good reading & writing and will certainly help students when speaking. I would propose incorporating phonics into your lessons as a 5 minute warm-up, 1-2 times per week. It could be as simple as one new sound per week. This is a perfect way to utilize ALTs who, as native speakers, will already have an inherent understanding of phonics. Some good websites for phonics teaching tips and/or free downloadable worksheets are the following: www.readingtarget.com vowel, consonant, blends, etc. worksheets www.edhelper.com assorted phonics activities worksheets www.1-language.com/eslphonics/ similar to readingtarget.com www.genkienglish.net better for elementary school visits www.dorbooks.com lesson plans and ideas www.mpi-j.co.jp/ phonics information in Japanese Whether you want to teach phonics systematically or simply work on spot-checking difficult pronunciation, here are some activities that will help students with common pronunciation problems. 1. 2. 3. Word Trees Pronunciation Game Karuta is also an excellent way to practice sounds, words, or a combination of the two.  Most important with all of these activities is to get the students to be the ones who do the pronouncing / speaking!! The teacher should model correct pronunciation and then sit back and let the students do the work. 4. Variation on the Word Tree: • • • • • • Practice pronunciation of the words. First, do the activity with the ALT pronouncing the words. Then have students do the activity in pairs. The JTE and ALT should be monitoring and should re-practice any words that are giving students problems. Next, the students will be the ones to lead the ALT to the correct number. The JTE writes a number on the blackboard. The students can all see the number but the ALT cannot. The JTE then calls on individual students to give the words leading to the correct number. For maximum student involvement, each student should only give one word and then a new student should be called on. Music Questions:  What did you think of the background music? Was it distracting? My thoughts about using background music during Speaking Activities: 1. Should make students more relaxed. Creates a casual atmosphere and students will hopefully be less self-conscious about being overheard by the teacher or by their peers. 2. Effectively brings the activity to a close. When the music stops students are instantly aware that the activity is finished. A less chaotic ending. Things to avoid when using music in class: 1. Any songs that are too popular or that have Japanese lyrics. This will distract the students. 2. Too much volume. Music shouldn’t intrude on the activity. Group Work Instructions / Questions: 1. Assess the activity and determine whether it is Authentic or Restricted. Is it designed to assist with fluency or with accuracy? What sort of Clarification might students need to complete the activity successfully? 2. Tinker with the activity if you think there are things that need to be expanded, changed, or dropped altogether. As most of these activities are aiming for an Authentic use of language, do you think there are times when Restricting the activity might be of greater benefit for students? 3. Present the activity using the seminar participants as your “students.” Notes on Suggested Activities:     Want to re-think standard or commonly used activities. These are not meant to be the “endall” Speaking Activity, but rather a way to reshape common activities into more effective Speaking Activities. From warm-ups…to…short, 20-30 activities…to…longer, done-over-time activities. Most are approached from an Authentic Use viewpoint. Tried to include activities for a range of levels (from 1- to 3-nensei). Three factors which affect language production: 1. Pressure of time will force learners to make use of language that can be readily accessed rather than attempt to create language in real time. 2. The more students there are involved in a task, the greater the pressure there is on any one student. The likely result is that students will focus on fluency to keep the conversation moving. “[Language users are] able to draw upon knowledge of the world, or of the immediate context…This enable users to predict meanings, and therefore to reduce the need to focus on form, on grammar and lexis, without compromising the capacity to express or comprehend meanings. In production, incomplete utterances may be sufficient to keep the interaction moving along successfully…Speakers may know that they have not produced impressive language, either for complexity or accuracy, but if they expect that their interlocutors will understand anyway, then to fumble with form would be disruptive to the meanings which underlie a developing conversation (20-21).” Warm-ups: Word Association & Definition Activities Needs: blackboard / whiteboard Time: 5-10 minutes Level: Any Association 1:    Students sit face to face with a partner. Only one can face the blackboard. Teacher writes the target word on the blackboard. The student facing the board gives as many English words as necessary until the partner guesses the target word. For example, If the target word is “apple,” the student giving the hints might say: “Fruit.” OR “This is a fruit.” “Red.” OR “This is red.” “in Aomori.” OR “Many of these grow in Aomori.” And so on until their partner guesses “apple.” Association 2:   Students sit face to face with a partner. Only one can face the blackboard. Teacher shows a target item (picture, drawing, or actual item) that can only be seen by the student facing the blackboard.   The student who can see the target item will describe it for one minute. The goal is to say as much as possible without stopping. At the end of one minute, the student who was listening must guess what the item is. For example, If the target item is a picture of rice, the student describing the item might say: “This is a food. It is very popular in Japan. Most Japanese people eat it every day. We use this to make rice balls…” and so on until one minute has passed. Association 3: One Sentence Definition (Level: 3-nensei grammar...Relative Clauses)    Students sit face to face with a partner. Only one can face the blackboard. Teacher puts a list of target words on the board. Within a given amount of time (4-5 minutes is good), the student facing the board gives one sentence definitions for as many words as possible using the following pattern: “This is the person who teaches us English.” (Target Word: teacher, Mikami-sensei, Brett-sensei) “This is the place where we study English.” (Target Word: classroom) And so on…  Students can choose from the list freely, the goal being to complete as many words as possible.  Any of the above Word Association games can be given a competitive edge by grouping students in threes. One student faces the board and two face the student. The two facing the student try to come up with the answer first. Association 4: Taboo Game Needs: Taboo cards Time: 15 minutes (or longer if you like) Level: Because of the taboo words, works better with higher level students • This is a word association game with the added bonus of team competition. • Before class, make 2 sets of identical taboo cards. Each card should have a target word. Each card should also have “taboo” words that students can’t say. • Divide the class into two teams. • Each team will select one person to go to the front of the classroom. • Give each of the students at the front a taboo card (with identical target word). • The object of the game is for the students at the front to get their team to say the target word before the other team does. • If students use Japanese, gestures, or any of the taboo words they are disqualified. • Award a given number of points to the team who guesses the target word first and then rotate students to the front. Note: This game can be adapted for 1-nensei or lower level students by eliminating the taboo words and choosing easier target words. Variations on BINGO I. II. Phonics BINGO…Can be played using either letters or words Vocabulary Review BINGO  For both of the above, make groups of 4-6 students and have them be the ones to call out the words. They can do this by going around the group taking turns. The teacher should only be observing/listening to these activities. Students should be doing ALL of the speaking (and listening). III. Question BINGO…This variation encourages student speaking through the formation of questions. How to play: Give students a bingo sheet similar to the one below. The “answers” on the bingo sheet should pertain to both the JTE and the ALT. Make groups of 4-6 students. Students formulate questions that they think will correspond with the answers on the bingo sheet. They can then raise their hands and ask either the JTE or the ALT a question. If they get the answer they were looking for (that matches the answer on their sheet) they can cross off that square. The object is to make as many bingos as they can within a given amount of time. Although they are scoring as a group, everyone in the group should be expected to ask a question. A variation might include a bingo sheet with more generalized answers and then students can circulate around the room asking anyone they like. Yes, I am. I have one. September 6 months I like jazz. Soccer No, I don’t. Alaska Winter Yes, I do. I went to Akita No, I don’t. FREE Sendai pizza Yes, I can. I have two. Yes, one dog. I like sushi. 100 yen September 11 No, it wasn’t. Interesting Yes, it was. English Memory Game Needs: None Time: 5-10 minutes Level: Any, but can be particularly good for 1-nensei when introducing new vocabulary • This is a good activity for warming up and for improving memory. • Divide class into groups of 5-6 students. • Choose a theme for the game. For example, with 1-nensei this can be sports, food, school subjects, school clubs, colors, etc. • Introduce any new vocabulary and grammar as necessary. Ideally, you can pair this with the target grammar in the text book. Easy Version: (Using “I like…” as the target grammar and sports as the topic.) Students go around in a circle stating the previous students’ favorite sports before stating their own. For example, Daisuke: I like soccer. Megumi: Daisuke* likes soccer. I like tennis. Shin: Daisuke* likes soccer. Megumi* likes tennis. I like hockey. …  Instead of using names, you can also practice using the pronouns he / she. More Challenging Version: The Shopping Game The set-up is the same as above except now you will tell the students we are going shopping for our class party and each student must buy something. Each student must buy something that starts with the same letter as the first letter of his/her name. For example, Yoko: I will buy yoghurt. Makie: Yoko will buy yoghurt. I will buy mushrooms. Taku: Yoko will buy yoghurt. Makie will buy mushrooms. I will buy tomatoes. …  A competitive element can be added by having all of the groups stand up. When one person in a group makes a mistake, that group must sit down. The last group standing is the winner. Dialogue Builds Needs: Pictures as Prompts OR, Nothing if Gestures are Used Time: 10 minutes Level: Any  Teachers provide prompts in the form of pictures or gestures.  Students create dialogues based on the prompts. This can be done with the whole class or in pairs.  For example, look at the pictures below and create a dialogue. Gestures can be used as well. For example, JTE: [walks in and waves to ALT]. Students: “Hello.” / “Good morning.” etc. ALT: [waves back; looks worried]. Students: “Hello, are you okay?” JTE: [Acts very tired / hungry / sleepy / etc.]. Who Am I? Needs: Names of Famous People Written on Post-It Notes* Time: 15 minutes Level: 2/3-nensei  Divide the class into groups of four students.  Have students janken to decide who will be “it.”  The remaining group members decide on the name of someone famous and write it on a Post-It Note which is then stuck to the forehead of the person who is “it.” *Or, you can use the Post-It Notes that you prepared before class if you are worried that students will not do the work themselves.  The person who is “it” must determine who he/she is by asking “yes” or “no” questions.  Rotate the students so that everyone has a chance to guess.  For a low-level class, you may want to provide some prompts on the blackboard to get them started. For example, Am I… a man or a woman? alive or dead? a teacher / a singer / an actor etc. old or young? etc.  To make this activity interactive on a larger scale, make one Post-It Note per student and have them walk around the class asking anyone they like. Superlatives Q&A Game Needs: Superlative Questions written before class Time: 15-20 minutes Level: 2/3-nensei • Divide the class into groups of 4-5 students. • Give each group a list of 5-10 superlative questions that you will have written before class. • If you want to increase the level of difficulty for this activity, you can have each group write their own questions and then exchange the questions amongst the groups. • Students discuss the questions amongst themselves. • The winner in each group is the person who has the most “superlative” answers. For example, Question #1: Who is the oldest? Noriko: My birthday is September 22nd. Shige: My birthday is August 4th. Jun: My birthday is April 19th. Mariko: My birthday is January 7th. I am the oldest! Sample Questions: 1. Who is the oldest? 2. Who is the youngest? 3. Who has the largest family? 4. Who has the longest hair? 5. Who has the smallest feet? 6. Who has the dirtiest shoes? 7. Who lives the closest to school? 8. Who has the most CDs? 9. Who is the fastest runner? 10. Who has the most boyfriends/girlfriends? Pros of this Activity:  Great activity to review the use of superlatives.  Great way to introduce new superlative vocabulary. Cons of this Activity:  Students have a tendency to read the question in English but then give their answers in Japanese. Careful monitoring can prevent this. How well do you know your classmate? Needs: Paper and pens Time: 20-30 mins. Level: Any level, but works best with 2/3-nensei • • • • • • • • Divide the class into groups of 5-6 students. Choose one student in each group who will be the Target. It is probably best to choose the student with the strongest English but anyone who isn’t overly shy will be fine. You can have the groups choose their own Target if you like. Give the students five minutes to find out as much as they can about the targeted student. They will do this by asking as many questions as they can in English. For example, “What is your favorite color?” / “How many people are in your family?” / “Do you have a pet?” etc. The point is for students to gather as much information as they can in the five minute period. During the Q&A time, designate one student to be the Reporter. This person will record all of the targeted student’s answers. I usually tell students to think of this as taking a memo. Japanese is fine. One word answers are fine. When the five minutes are up, all of the Targets will come to the front of the classroom. Targets will sit in desks facing the rest of the class. Next, the JTE & ALT will ask questions. The Targets write their answers on a piece of paper and the groups write what they think their Target’s answer will be on a piece of paper. There should be a time limit set for writing the answers. If students are only writing one word, then one minute is enough. If you want them to write in complete sentences, more time should be given. Groups and Targets will simultaneously reveal their answers. If the group’s answer matches their Target’s answer, then that group scores _X_ number of points. To discourage the Targets from signaling to their groups, I usually have them put their heads down on their desks after they have written their answers. For example, ALT/JTE: “What is your favorite color?” Target writes: Blue. (Or, My favorite color is blue. if you want them using complete sentences).  When the answers are revealed, if the Target’s group also wrote Blue, they receive points. If they wrote Red, they receive no points. Information Gaps Needs: Information Gap Sheets Time: 15-20 minutes Level: Any Information Gaps are activities where two speakers have different parts of information that together make up a whole. Because they have different information, there is a “gap” between them. This “gap” forces students to communicate in order to complete the whole. Examples of Information Gaps: 1. Describe and Draw… Pairs either have two different pictures or two parts that together comprise one complete picture. 2. Story-Telling Using Pictures… Each student has a different picture which they must describe to the group. Then together, the group decides the order of the pictures thereby creating a story. 3. Any Pictures or Grids that require additional information. See, Does Yumi Play the Drums? Who’s Who? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Simple Filler Activity): Reverse Criss-Cross Needs: None Time: 5-10 minutes Level: Any Surely everyone has played the game Criss-Cross before… To encourage student speaking and a “freer” use of language, change roles and have the students be the ones to ask the questions. To make it more challenging, you might want to put a limit on the question patterns. For example, students can only ask “Do you like…?” two or three times before that question becomes off-limits. Student Self-Introduction Speeches Needs: None in class; student prep before class (homework) Time: 10-15 minutes Level: Any, but great for 1-nensei • Before every class, have 4-5 students come to the front and give a short self-introduction speech. • The idea is that over time, students will build on the number of sentences they are able to present. • Students in the class should listen and take notes about the speeches. • After the speeches, the ALT/JTE should check comprehension by asking questions to the class. • For increased difficulty, the teacher can assign individual students to be the ones responsible to ask the questions after the speeches. For example, Weeks 1 & 2 might be three sentences: In weeks 3 & 4, add a sentence or two: “My name is Yosuke.” “I am from Japan.” “I am 13 years old.” The above again plus… “I play soccer.” “My favorite food is sushi.” And so on…  This activity can run for about 8 weeks, in which time students should ideally be able to say 810 sentences about themselves. If used with 1-nensei, a good time to begin is after the summer holiday because they won’t have enough vocabulary before that time. Variation on the Above: Topic Speech Before class, prepare about a half-dozen different Topic Cards. Any topic that students can reasonably handle is fine. Give each student a Topic Card. For homework or in class, students will prepare a oneminute speech that they will later present to the class. As with the above, 4-5 students can present on any given day. After all of the students have given their speech, you can prepare new Topic Cards and increase the speech time to two minutes, etc.  You can also make this a pair work activity for maximum student involvement. Diary Conversation Needs: Diary sheet (see below) Time: 20-25 minutes Level: 2/3-nensei  As homework or in class, students fill in the diary sheet in response to a specific question. For example, “What did you do yesterday?”  Next, students will make pairs and exchange their diary with their partner.  Students will read their partner’s diary and have five minutes to think of possible questions. Students should be allowed to write down their questions if they want but not read them when the time comes to make a conversation.   Decide on the order (focus on one student’s diary first) and initiate a conversation. After 3-4 minutes, switch roles and work with the other student’s diary. This activity will become easier for students if repeated over time. Blank Diary Sheet: Name: ______________________ Date: _______________________ Sample Diary Sheet: “What did you do yesterday?” Name: _____Taro Yamada______ Date: ____January 22nd____ After school, I went to Jiro’s house. We played computer games there. After that, I went home and ate dinner. A Sample Conversation might look like this: Student A: Student B: Student A: Student B: Student A: Good morning, Taro. Good morning, Keisuke. What did you do after school yesterday, Taro? (Q1 I went to Jiro’s house. (A1 Oh, really? (R1 What did you do there? Q2 Student B: We played computer games. A2 Student A: That sounds like fun. R2 What did you do after that? Q3 Student B: I went home and ate dinner. A3 Student A: What did you eat? (Ability to expand) Student B: I ate a hamburger and a salad. (Ability to expand) Student A: Mmm, that sounds good… R3  It is this ability to expand the conversation that we are ideally striving for as it shows student comprehension. However, I would start simply and only expect students to work with the three sentences as they see them. As students progress—and if this activity is used with some degree of regularity—I would start to expect more, especially from the 3-nensei. Basically, if students get to the “expand” stage I would consider it a bonus, but certainly not an impossibility. Useful Conversational Phrases: Reactions That’s good. Great! Wonderful! Oh, really? Oh, yeah? I see. Oh, no! That’s too bad. I’m sorry to hear that. That sounds good. That sounds like fun. Nice! You’re kidding. I can’t believe it! Oh, really!?! How about you? What do you think? Do you think so? I think so too. I agree (with you). I don’t think so. Me, too. Me, neither. I didn’t know that.  This list is far from comprehensive, but as is would be way too much for students to digest. I would recommend only giving students 3-5 “Reactions” at a time and building on that as you repeat the activity. Group Work Instructions / Questions: 4. Choose one activity from those assigned to your group. Assess the activity and determine whether it is designed to assist with fluency or with accuracy. Is it Authentic or Restricted? Would you change this approach? What sort of Clarification might students need to complete the activity successfully? 5. Tinker with the activity if you think there are things that need to be expanded, changed, or dropped altogether. Most of these activities are targeting fluency, but do you think there are times when Restricting the activity might be of greater benefit for students? If so, please explain why. 6. Present the activity using the seminar participants as your “students.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NOTES: www.imt.liu.se/.../download-SCL%20for%20Thai%20TESOL%20paper.doc STUDENT CENTRED LEARNING – A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR TEACHERS by GRAHAM ROGERS Co-ordinator for Business Courses at the British Council, Bangkok. WHY STUDENT-CENTRED LEARNING? A highlight of the Thai National Curriculum 2002 is the proposed shift in emphasis in teaching methods to a student-centred learning approach. Thai education has been radically changed by the National Education Act of 1999. In addition to reorganising the administration of education in Thailand, this legislation aims to change the practice of teaching in Thai schools. The goal is a paradigm shift in Thai education from teacher-centred to student-centred learning. For example: “In organizing the learning process, educational institutions shall: (1) provide substance and arrange activities in line with the learners' interests and aptitudes, bearing in mind individual differences; (2) provide training in thinking process, management, how to face various situations and application of knowledge for obviating and solving problems; (3) organize activities for learners to draw from authentic experience ... enable learners to think critically and acquire the reading habit and continuous thirst for knowledge; (5) ... both learners and teachers may learn together from different types of teaching-learning media and other sources of knowledge; (6) enable individuals to learn at all times and in all places.” (Section 24, National Education Act of 1999) However, this change is not simply something we have to make because the Government says so. It has major pedagogical benefits, which are particularly relevant to language learning. In this paper I shall attempt to define student-centred learning, specifically features that differentiate it from a more traditional approach to language teaching. We shall also touch on the changing roles of teachers and students, and identify some ways of creating suitable materials for the new approach. Finally, we shall examine some of the anticipated problems previously expressed by our teaching colleagues and attempt to offer some solutions to those problems. WHAT IS STUDENT-CENTRED LEARNING? Student-centred learning puts more responsibility on the learners for their own learning. It involves students in more decision-making processes, and they learn by doing, rather than just by listening and performing meaningless tasks which are often not in context and therefore ‘unreal’ to them. Because learning becomes more active (rather than passively listening to the teacher), it becomes more memorable: because it is personalised, and relevant to the students’ own lives and experiences, it brings language ‘alive’, and makes it relevant to the real world. It is nothing new. Many of our teaching methods are already student-centred. FEATURES OF STUDENT-CENTRED LEARNING When planning more student-centred lessons it is useful to remember the following:  Ask don’t tell: always try to elicit information, ideas, and answers from the students. They are not empty vessels waiting to be filled by the all-knowing teacher. They have knowledge and experiences of life, as well as language which can contribute greatly to the learning process. The more they contribute, the more they are likely to remember. We should never underestimate the ability of our students.  Focus on students’ experience and interests: if the teacher chooses the topic, or just follows the course book, the students may not be interested. If, however, teachers use the course book as a base for then moving on to practice activities relating to the students' personal lives and areas of         interest and experience (personalisation), the students are more likely to become involved in the lesson, thereby remembering more. Communication over accuracy: the main reason for students learning a language is to be able to communicate with other speakers of that language. In reality they will probably speak English with more non-native speakers from the region than with native speakers, and the ultimate goal is to be able to understand and respond to each other. Students therefore need opportunities to practise communicating in English without the constant fear of making mistakes hanging over them. If you feel the need to correct their mistakes, don't interrupt their conversations, make notes and give feedback later. Learning by doing: the more actively involved students are in their own learning, the more they are likely to remember what they learn. Students have choices and make decisions about learning. Group work requires negotiation and decision making – working together towards a common goal. Focus on confidence building for real-world skills. By developing communicative competence, language again becomes more ‘real’ and part of the students’ lives. Encourage interest in English used in the real world. By using authentic materials familiar to the students (magazines, the internet, video, television, letters etc.), students are constantly in touch with the language in an absorbing way. Tasks are open-ended, i.e. there is more than one possible answer. Traditional grammar based tasks are either right or wrong and test only one skill at a time. They are generally unimaginative, often in the form of multiple choice answers (so the students have a 25% chance of being right without actually knowing the answer at all) and totally divorced from ‘real world’ situations. Open-ended tasks are wider in their focus and involve a variety of language skills. High exposure to English through the use of authentic materials again: students may be set homework involving research undertaken using the internet or other English language reference sources. Students learn more than language. They are also encouraged to think critically and develop problem-solving skills through more creative tasks and group work. CREATING MATERIALS: traditional vs. student-centred approaches When creating student-centred materials for using in class, consider the following:  are the students involved?  Do the students have some choice?  Will the students really USE language to communicate?  Is the task is open-ended (i.e. there is more than one possible answer / outcome)? Remember:  Think of the final product / outcome of the task and work backwards.  Consider the aims, procedures, resources and roles.  Make a TASK not an EXERCISE.  Don’t underestimate what students can do. Example 1: A traditional approach: 1. Students think about their hobbies. Students try to guess each other’s hobbies. 2. Listening passage with 6 speakers talking about their hobbies. Students listen and match hobbies with speakers’ names. 1. 2. 3. 4. A student-centred approach: Students think of their hobbies. In groups of 6, students make a script of a conversation where they talk together about their hobbies. Students make a tape (6 tapes in total) and a matching exercise. Students swap tapes between groups, listen and match hobbies with speaker names. 5. They listen again and complete a feedback form. 6. Students receive feedback from peers and the teacher. Example 2: Another traditional example: 1. Students read about some problems e.g. “John is too fat. What should he do?” 2. Students make suggestions for solutions. Another student-centred example 1. In groups, students think of 2 health problems. They consult the teacher concerning how to write the problems in English. 2. Students make posters of their health problems. 3. Poster exhibition. Other students must write 2 solutions on posters. No 2 solutions on one poster can be the same. 4. After the exhibition, each group chooses the best 2 solutions written on their poster, and thinks of 2 reasons why each of these solutions is best. 5. The teacher teaches some presentation skills. 6. Students give a presentation of their problems and solutions, and receive feedback from the teacher and peers. THE PROCESS OF MATERIALS DESIGN There are 6 things you might consider to start your materials design. You don’t need to consider all of them:  language objective (e.g. collocations of time)  learning objective (e.g. students learn to identify their own errors)  topic (e.g. local environmental conservation)  resources (e.g. morning news in English on Channel 9)  task/activities (e.g. answering Agony Aunt letters in the newspaper)  expected finished product (e.g. short guidebook for tourists) THE PRODUCT OF MATERIALS DESIGN Here are some suggested guidelines for checking the finished materials: The materials should:  have variety  be attractively presented (e.g. font, layout)  have content that appeals to the students  help the students feel at ease in using English  develop students' confidence  expose students to useful language  draw students' attention to important language points  provide opportunities for the teacher to help students with their English  provide opportunities for feedback to be given on students' work  account for different learning styles, attitudes and needs of students TEACHER SKILLS NEEDED IN STUDENT-CENTRED APPROACHES Related to the new roles of teachers, there may be some skills that teachers need to develop to be effective with student-centred approaches. These include: giving useful practical suggestions giving constructive feedback acting as a language resource monitoring student work improvising teaching of language points coping with the unexpected coping with students with different learning styles creating their own materials approaching the community for help “YES. BUT WHAT ABOUT…?” SOME ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS We need to have the ability to change, but it also important to be able to keep hold of the good things. Some teachers may fear change, as change is uncertain, but it is not necessary for teachers to change everything they currently do in the classroom, but to change some things to make improvements. Change is a slow and difficult process, so should be taken step by step. “We’ve never tried anything like this before.”  Good! It’s always exciting to try something new! “We don’t have the facilities to do this.”  Not many are needed. The greatest facility you need is inside yourself! ”We’ve just started using a new coursebook. We don’t need any more changes yet.”  Coursebooks can, and should, be adapted to make them more student-centred. “It would be great if we only had 12 students in a class. We have 50.”  Yes, this is always a problem, but pair and group work can be conducted effectively whatever the group size, and students themselves can be appointed to monitor their own groups. “If we do this, there will be too many discipline problems.”  If the activities are well structured, geared to the students’ interests, and the students are motivated to achieve something on their own, they should be too involved in the work to misbehave. “Our students need grammar for the Entrance Exam. This doesn’t help them.”  Change needs to be slow and constantly reviewed in order to be effective in the long term. The new Entrance Exam will demand a better command of communicative techniques, so eventually, this approach will help them. Moreover, developing students’ confidence to use the language effectively will have a spin-off effect on their command of grammar. “The students will just copy and not learn anything.”  There are actually fewer opportunities for copying with a student-centred approach than with the traditional approach, as students are producing their own work rather than merely completing exercises. “I’ve been teaching successfully for 15 years. I don’t need to change.”  A truly successful teacher is always looking for new ways to teach, and always learning from their students! Personally, the day I stop learning as a teacher, is the day I should stop teaching. As teachers we should always remember the ‘Wise Old Owl’: The wise old owl lived in an oak The more he saw, the less he spoke The less he spoke, the more he heard Why can’t we all be like that bird? This paper was produced with acknowledgement to Assoc. Prof. Richard Watson Todd, King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thonburi, and Ms Sheila Taylor, Head of Teacher Development at The British Council, Bangkok, and is derived from a Seminar Workshop for ERIC trainers they jointly ran at Chiang Mai in March 2002. Graham Rogers The British Council Bangkok June 2002 http://belajarbareng.unimedcenter.org/repositori/fbs/bahasa-inggris/210-student-centeredlearning-.html Student-centered learning Thursday, 25 February 2010 02:40 | Written by linda | Student-centered learning (also called child-centered learning) is an approach to education focusing on the needs of the students, rather than those of others involved in the educational process, such as teachers and administrators. Student-centered learning is focused on the student's needs, abilities, interests, and learning styles with the teacher as a facilitator of learning. One of the most critical differences between student-centered learning and teacher-centred learning is in assessment. In student-centered learning, students participate in the evaluation of their learning. This means that students are involved in deciding how to demonstrate their learning. Developing assessment that support learning and motivation is essential to the success of student-centered approaches. One of the main reasons teachers resist student-centered learning is the view of assessment as problematic in practice. Since teacher-assigned grades are so tightly woven into the fabric of schools, expected by students, parents and administrators alike, allowing students to participate in assessment is somewhat contentious. The concept of student-centred learning has been credited as early as 1905 to Hayward and in 1956 to Dewey’s work (O’Sullivan 2003). Carl Rogers, the father of client-centred counseling, is associated with expanding this approach into a general theory of education (Burnard 1999; Rogoff 1999). The paradigm shift away from teaching to an emphasis on learning has encouraged power to be moved from the teacher to the student (Barr and Tagg 1995). The teacher-focused/transmission of information formats, such as lecturing, have begun to be increasingly criticised and this has paved the way for a widespread growth of ‘student-centred learning’ as an alternative approach. However, despite widespread use of the term, Lea et al. (2003) maintain that one of the issues with student-centred learning is the fact that ‘many institutions or educators claim to be putting student-centred learning into practice, but in reality they are not’ (2003:322). How to teach: In a student-centered class, students don’t depend on their teacher all the time, waiting for instructions, words of approval, correction, advice, or praise. They don’t ignore each other, but look at each other and communicate with each other. They value each other’s contributions; they cooperate, learn from each other, and help each other. When in difficulty or in doubt, they do ask the teacher for help or advice but only after they have tried to solve the problem among themselves. The emphasis is on working together, in pairs, in groups, and as a whole class. Their teacher helps them to develop their language skills. A student-centered classroom isn’t a place where the students decide what they want to learn and what they want to do. It’s a place where we consider the needs of the students, as a group and as individuals, and encourage them to participate in the learning process all the time. The teacher’s role is more that of a facilitator (see Chapter 6) than instructor; the students are active participants in the learning process. The teacher (and the textbook) help to guide the students, manage their activities, and direct their learning. Being a teacher means helping people to learn – and, in a student-centered class, the teacher is a member of the class as a participant in the learning process.In a student-centered class, at different times, students may be work-ing alone, in pairs, or in groups: - Working alone, preparing ideas or making notes before a discussion, doing a listening task, doing a short written assignment, or doing grammar or vocabulary exercises -Working together in pairs or groups, comparing and discussing their answers, or reading andreacting to one another’s written work and suggesting improvements - Working together in discussions or in role-plays, sharing ideas, opinions, and experiences -Interacting with the teacher and the whole class, asking questions or brainstorming ideas Different Kinds of Activities : Reading Reading a text is something people prefer to do on their own, without inter-ruptions, and at their own speed if possible, looking up unfamiliar words in a dictionary from time to time. To save time in class, we may ask students to read the text before the lesson. If there are comprehension questions, we may ask them to do those at home, too. But reading together in class can be enjoyable, with students helping one another to understand and sharing reactions. Even multiple-choice questions can be the basis for discussion in pairs. It’s much more interesting for students to discuss their answers than to just be told the answers. A different kind of reading task with follow-up questions can require that students work together and have two kinds of discussions: one about the answers and one about the information they’ve just found out. In this example from a textbook unit on transportation, students are going to read a text about congestion charging – the practice in some cities of charging motorists fees or tolls for driving in the most congested areas during peak business hours. Listening Listening is also something people usually do as an individual activity. Comprehension tasks or questions help students understand better, but doing such tasks alone can make them feel isolated, especially when they don’t under-stand the content of the conversation too well. Discussions and sharing ideas Discussions are typical of any student-centered classroom. The best discussions involve students talking about personal experiences and giving opinions. Discussions work best in pairs or small groups because then more people can give their views. In larger groups or in a whole class, once one person has given his or her view, everyone else can only agree or disagree. Role play Some students feel less inhibited if they have a role to play, and can escape from “being themselves” for a while. Role plays may involve one student playing a tourist/customer/boss, interacting with another student playing a tour guide/sales assistant/post office clerk/employee. Such nonrealistic roles can be problematic for some students, but fun for others.In the following example from a unit on “Making a good impression,” both partners are themselves, but they imagine themselves in a different place. The questions help students decide what to ask – they don’t have to be too cre-ative! And the exchange in italics suggests how they can begin the phone call. (An illustration, not shown here, helps to set the scene.) Writing tasks Longer writing tasks are best done as homework; this saves time in class and allows students to spend as long as they need on them. But writing tasks also can be prepared by working together, brainstorming ideas, marshalling your thoughts, and making notes. The actual writing will be done as homework. Then, back in class in groups, students read one another’s work, react to it, and perhaps suggest small improvements. Encouraging creativity When in groups or pairs, students can work together without worrying about losing face in front of the whole class when they say something unusual or incorrect. They can experiment with their English and take risks, rather than play it safe. Special activities can help them be more creative. Problem solving Puzzles, problems, and brain-teasers can also stimulate meaningful communication if students work together to solve them. Some people are less adept at solving problems than others, and maybe it’s kind of “unfair” to make them use their brains in what is supposed to be an English class, where smartness or math skills shouldn’t be favored! But a student-centered approach has to be a “wholeperson” approach; otherwise students will be “just practicing” rather than really communicating. Grammar and vocabulary exercises Perhaps surprisingly, grammar or vocabulary exercises are ideal student-centered activities. They can provoke lively discussion and genuine communication in English. Again, it might be quicker to do them alone, but doing them together can be fun and worthwhile. [...]... articles, books, and textbooks including the English Firsthand series and has lead teacher development workshops on five continents Marc also maintains the ELT and the Science of Happiness website to distribute ELT/Positive Psychology downloads and a website for various presentation handouts http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/knowledge-wiki /teacher- talking -time Maximizing Student Talk Time Mid Year... instructor; the students are active participants in the learning process The teacher (and the textbook) help to guide the students, manage their activities, and direct their learning Being a teacher means helping people to learn – and, in a student- centered class, the teacher is a member of the class as a participant in the learning process.In a student- centered class, at different times, students may... student- centred approach: Students think of their hobbies In groups of 6, students make a script of a conversation where they talk together about their hobbies Students make a tape (6 tapes in total) and a matching exercise Students swap tapes between groups, listen and match hobbies with speaker names 5 They listen again and complete a feedback form 6 Students receive feedback from peers and the teacher Example... the students  help the students feel at ease in using English  develop students' confidence  expose students to useful language  draw students' attention to important language points  provide opportunities for the teacher to help students with their English  provide opportunities for feedback to be given on students' work  account for different learning styles, attitudes and needs of students TEACHER. .. did you eat? (Ability to expand) Student B: I ate a hamburger and a salad (Ability to expand) Student A: Mmm, that sounds good… R3  It is this ability to expand the conversation that we are ideally striving for as it shows student comprehension However, I would start simply and only expect students to work with the three sentences as they see them As students progress and if this activity is used... Activities Possible Reasons for the Communication Breakdown: 1 Teacher- Centered Classes Solution: Create student- centered activities Students should be doing most of the talking Teachers should step back and monitor 2 Low Motivation for Students Solution: Use English everywhere: in the hallway, in the teacher s room, with other English teachers Show students that English is real! 3 Real Life Situations in... in pairs, in groups, and as a whole class Their teacher helps them to develop their language skills A student- centered classroom isn’t a place where the students decide what they want to learn and what they want to do It’s a place where we consider the needs of the students, as a group and as individuals, and encourage them to participate in the learning process all the time The teacher s role is more... might look like this: Student A: Student B: Student A: Student B: Student A: Good morning, Taro Good morning, Keisuke What did you do after school yesterday, Taro? (Q1 I went to Jiro’s house (A1 Oh, really? (R1 What did you do there? Q2 Student B: We played computer games A2 Student A: That sounds like fun R2 What did you do after that? Q3 Student B: I went home and ate dinner A3 Student A: What did... and relevant to the students’ own lives and experiences, it brings language ‘alive’, and makes it relevant to the real world It is nothing new Many of our teaching methods are already student- centred FEATURES OF STUDENT- CENTRED LEARNING When planning more student- centred lessons it is useful to remember the following:  Ask don’t tell: always try to elicit information, ideas, and answers from the students... between student- centered learning and teacher- centred learning is in assessment In student- centered learning, students participate in the evaluation of their learning This means that students are involved in deciding how to demonstrate their learning Developing assessment that support learning and motivation is essential to the success of student- centered approaches One of the main reasons teachers ... translates into ineffective talk time The teacher talks or calls on students one at a time Although the talk time for the class may be roughly 70%, individual talk time is quite low In a class... received wisdom Does it mean Student Talking Time, or Student Vocalizing Time? I’ve seen very teacher controlled classes with lots of student vocalization (repetition and drilling) but I wouldn’t... (and Chuck) and over 1800 dedicated teachers from around the world on the global teachers discussion page for an ongoing conversation about education Peter Viney Maximizing Student Talking Time