I learned a lot from this week's talk, not least of all, the classification of tasks at the end!
I learned a lot from this week's talk, not least of all, the classification of tasks at the end!
More importantly, I really liked the tips on making the classroom a safe space, and I think it's a simple but radical idea to not start with speaking activities and to let shy students have their "quiet period" Many teachers I know who are considered the fun, kind, likable teachers kick their classes off with loud speaking heavy activities, and I always question that for more introverted students. It's definitely good to remember that students may need time to warm up. And also that the task should be at i-1 to let students practice successfully.
I did have a question about making sure their speech is well-received. I certainly agree that we should make students feel that they are heard. I see that nodding and smiling, and echoing are all ways of doing that. But I wonder if providing more authentic feedback isn't better, where possible. If I am talking to a friend, I might acknowledge his speech by saying, "Yeah," or, "mm-hmm" or by asking clarifying questions, "Wait, she said, 'What?'" or "You mean the old Italian restaurant or the new one?" So does it make sense to provide students with the same kinds of reactions so that they get used to hearing authentic reactions. This would also help them understand where they need to give more information or where they misspoke, without directly correcting their errors.
I also had a reservation about some example activities. Some of the example activities under Tip #9 raised a critical issue for me and that is the balance between doing useful language work and just getting students talking. It seemed to me that all of these activities would be great fun and make students want to participate, overcoming shyness and fear of criticism. However, not all of them lend themselves to targeting what language students are practicing and many of them don't lead to authentic language practice. I wonder if it's good practice to do something like a guessing game or a find someone who to break the ice and warm everyone up and then move to a more targeted task. Or am I underestimating these activities? Or overestimating the importance of practicing target language.
More importantly, I really liked the tips on making the classroom a safe space, and I think it's a simple but radical idea to not start with speaking activities and to let shy students have their "quiet period" Many teachers I know who are considered the fun, kind, likable teachers kick their classes off with loud speaking heavy activities, and I always question that for more introverted students. It's definitely good to remember that students may need time to warm up. And also that the task should be at i-1 to let students practice successfully.
I did have a question about making sure their speech is well-received. I certainly agree that we should make students feel that they are heard. I see that nodding and smiling, and echoing are all ways of doing that. But I wonder if providing more authentic feedback isn't better, where possible. If I am talking to a friend, I might acknowledge his speech by saying, "Yeah," or, "mm-hmm" or by asking clarifying questions, "Wait, she said, 'What?'" or "You mean the old Italian restaurant or the new one?" So does it make sense to provide students with the same kinds of reactions so that they get used to hearing authentic reactions. This would also help them understand where they need to give more information or where they misspoke, without directly correcting their errors.
I also had a reservation about some example activities. Some of the example activities under Tip #9 raised a critical issue for me and that is the balance between doing useful language work and just getting students talking. It seemed to me that all of these activities would be great fun and make students want to participate, overcoming shyness and fear of criticism. However, not all of them lend themselves to targeting what language students are practicing and many of them don't lead to authentic language practice. I wonder if it's good practice to do something like a guessing game or a find someone who to break the ice and warm everyone up and then move to a more targeted task. Or am I underestimating these activities? Or overestimating the importance of practicing target language.
You've brought up some key issues here, Walton, thanks! A lot to discuss here!
ReplyDeleteCertainly the activities I suggested won't necessarily target the language the students have just been practicing. In principle, oral fluency activities are just getting students to talk in English and 'say their own thing' without necessarily targeting any particular language. If you want to target language they've just been learning, but at the same time get them to use it communicatively, then I'd call that 'communicative language practice' - can be just as much fun (Daniel's recently-posted activity with 'have you ever...' is a lovely example), but a slightly different aim: consolidating learning of a particular feature of language, or vocabulary, rather than just for the sake of improving fluency and confidence in using the target language to communicate. There's a place for both types in the language classroom. One cannot replace the other.
As to authenticity: I assume you mean replicating real-world serious transactional situations rather than the 'time-out' play situations of guessing games, or Daniel's 'Have you ever' activity? I'm going to be a bit of a heretic here and say that frankly I don't think it matters if the interaction is 'authentic' or not. I think 'authenticity' is highly overrated as a criterion for the worthwhileness of an activity. The main thing is that the students are saying and understanding real meanings, and have a purpose; it really doesn't matter if that purpose is a serious transaction or pursuing a role in a role-play, or guessing, or making or getting a joke. And that goes for either of the types of communicative activities I defined above. The main point is that they're getting the practice, and improving their command of the language. I think it's vastly underestimating our students to assume that because they've got good at using yes/no questions through guessing games they therefore won't be able to use them when they need them for more serious transactions.
A lot of food for thought. I think sometimes we also underestimate the authenticity of the teaching / learning situation. I mean that a classroom is an authentic environment in itself with plenty of genuine social interaction and transactional encounters taking place.
ReplyDeleteThank you Walton Burns for the points you've brought up. I am particulary interested in the issue of authenticity. As English is an international language, I believe that our role as Teachers is to prepare them to use English in real communicative situation. I will use these techniques to (1) correct their mistakes and (2) train them to speak in the real world
ReplyDeleteI like to start with speaking as well, just to get them into ''English mode'', since they speak Serbian until the beginning of the class. There are always shy students, but I let them say little if they wish at the beginning, I just use the first five minutes of the class warming up in such way, asking them about their day and so on.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if the shy students don't feel like talking at all, I like to say something like "I suffer from a temporary memory loss, so I can't remember what we did last class. Marko, could you tell students who weren't here what we did last time?" It seems to work and they always joke about frequent memory losses I'm experiencing :)