Talking Talking

[Unkotare]

So, it occurs in every class from time to time, but sometimes much more in particular classes that students will get caught up in private discussions and lose track of what they are supposed to be doing. I like to encourage pair/group work as it enables students to use the language they are learning with their peers rather than just with the teacher. It is too easy for teacher-talk to become a one-way lecture from me instead of a natural use of language as intended. I will sometimes explain an assignment or translate a word here or there in Spanish (or Portuguese or French or Chinese or what have you), but that carries the risk that students will pick up on the opportunity to speak their L1 exclusively or at least more than English, which is not what I want during the class. So, sometimes when the class is getting a little chaotic with students talking off-topic in their L1 too much I will start lecturing the class in a language none of the students speak. At first they may not notice because they are wrapped up in chit-chat about food or boyfriends/girlfriends teenager-type talk, but after a short while they start to notice and a wave of silence falls over the room. The quizzical looks on their faces are pretty amusing. Then we can get back on track.

Usually works.

 

[Baron Von Murderpaws]

Ah.............the ole jabberjaw syndrome.

I had a French teacher who had some ingenious ways of dealing with that, as my French class had two of the biggest gossips in school.

1. On Fridays, she would have us read two pages IN FRENCH out of our English written classbook. And our grade for that week would depend on how correct we got our two pages we read.

2. We had to write a 3 minute skit to perform in front of the class, IN FRENCH........such as pretending to go thru a fast food drive thru, talking to a cashier at the store and asking where something was, or being lost and asking for directions. Nothing very difficult, but again, our grade for that week would depend on how well we did in the skit.

3. This was the HARD one...........................having to read her cursive handwriting on the blackboard IN LITERAL FRENCH French......as she had been to France many times and learned how the locals spoke with dialects and slang.

 

[luiza]

A variation on political deflection .
A smart way to handle pupils .Top technique, imo.

Possibly irrelevant , but when I was around 15 and there was a plot to push me to speak fluent French, I had private lessons twice a week for one hour a lesson. The teacher never spoke a single word in English and forbade me the same .No possible exceptions .
It was awful to begin with but my learn rate increased exponentially . Concentration and mental pain were so high that time flashed by.And I can repeat almost everything I learned then over 40 years later .

 

[Rambunctious]

I loved coaching golf and had a great time with my students... great bunch of kids... I only coached the golf team for three years but really enjoyed it... I'm happy to report the team is coming back and I've been asked to return...
When I was having trouble with attention spans I would tell a joke... it wasn't always funny but it got everyone's attention... I always felt I had less authority than a licensed union teacher so I wouldn't reprimand the kids... And that also helped me with the team I believe...

 

[Unkotare]

I have found that cognates are often a very convenient tool for teaching vocabulary. Since English is such a versatile language, you can structure sentences in such a way as to include cognates that you can anticipate if you are familiar with the student's L1 and the comparative structure of the L1 and L2. Comes in handy. This often works for grammar and syntax as well, but that's a little more complicated.

 

[Unkotare]

Another technique that sometimes works well is when I have a class of all Spanish speakers I will start to say something really dramatic or just absurd in Spanish. The class falls silent right away as everyone tries to figure how what the hell I'm talking about. They often assume my Spanish is just incorrect, and they try to puzzle out what I could really be trying to say. You could hear a pin drop.

 

[Unkotare]

Another trick that works well with students who are reticent to speak (shy, affective disorder, etc) is to ask the student how to say a word in his or her L1 (a word I already know) as if I need help translating it. It can be a relatively simple word, but most students will perk up at the chance to "help" the teacher with the translation. Once the door is open, the student can often be coaxed into speaking more freely about any number of topics, including the actual topic of the class.

 

[Unkotare]

When I visit my sons' schools to meet with their teachers, I notice that many or even most staff at their schools speak (or at least understand) Spanish but rarely other languages.

 

[Unkotare]

It is a tricky problem when the great majority of a class speaks on L1 and just one or two students speak a different first language. I try to make sure the language minority students are included and feel a part of the class, but I am not sure this happens in all of their classes.

Years ago there was a girl (not even in my class) from Ethiopia who was very much a beginner in English, and extremely insecure about adapting socially to life in America. Almost ALL her classmates were native Spanish speakers. It is easy to feel isolated under such conditions. Her subject matter teachers were at a loss about what to do for her. So, I arranged to stay after school a few days a week for English tutoring. I did the best I could in a short time to learn enough Amharic to translate some key words and phrases that made her feel more confident and opened the door to more comprehensive communication in English across the domains. I found some English/Amharic bilingual books to read through with her as well. She was still a very shy person, but she made some significant progress over the academic year.

It's not easy, but kids usually appreciate the effort.

 

[Unkotare]

It is a tricky problem when the great majority of a class speaks on L1 and just one or two students speak a different first language. I try to make sure the language minority students are included and feel a part of the class, but I am not sure this happens in all of their classes.

Years ago there was a girl (not even in my class) from Ethiopia who was very much a beginner in English, and extremely insecure about adapting socially to life in America. Almost ALL her classmates were native Spanish speakers. It is easy to feel isolated under such conditions. Her subject matter teachers were at a loss about what to do for her. So, I arranged to stay after school a few days a week for English tutoring. I did the best I could in a short time to learn enough Amharic to translate some key words and phrases that made her feel more confident and opened the door to more comprehensive communication in English across the domains. I found some English/Amharic bilingual books to read through with her as well. She was still a very shy person, but she made some significant progress over the academic year.

It's not easy, but kids usually appreciate the effort.

.