Friday 3 August 2012
Teacher talk - Lessen it...
I've been thinking a lot about this every time I carry out my P&P. Perhaps, it's me being an English teacher - the tendency for me to talk and explain is higher then the students themselves. In any language lesson (well... depending on the skills that we are focusing), we should give every opportunity for the students to talk more. I suppose every English teacher realises this. Unfortunately, in actual practice - for myself actually, I tend to talk more than the students themselves. Of course such is not done on purpose, as I like to explain and re-explain the tasks, instructions, etc - and as a result - at the end of the lesson, it's the teacher who does more talking than the students. Besides, it's not easy to remain calm and keep on encouraging the students to talk and respond when the students themselves refuse to give their views, etc. They can just pretend as if nothing happens or nothing is expected from them. I remember one instance that I actually asked all the students to stand and only those who responded were allowed to sit. And the scenario changed drastically. They responded in such enthusiasm - beyond my imagination - and the class was boisterous! I then realised that, we have to take some "cruel" measure - to the point of forcing the students to speak up. Only then would they actually want to take part...
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Thanks for reminding me. I was going out of my mind trying to figure out ways to get the students to speak! I used to do this when I was in school and thought of doing it on one occasion, but some of our students have a tendency to display 'drama queen' hysterics, so I refrained. But like you said, we have to be cruel so be kind, so I'm going to have a re-think. Thanks again. - Mawarni
ReplyDeleteJust to share what happened to me pertaining to teacher talk, which happened yesterday. I am among those who sometimes cannot control what to say in the classroom; in other words, I talk a lot. So this happened...
ReplyDeleteWe were having a Speaking game called "What's Your Alibi?". A murder had occurred and we had several suspects (students, of course). Then, we had one prosecutor (also a student). He was suppossed to interrogate the suspects. But I became impatient as the prosecutor was not asking as many questions as I want, and not as quickly as I want. So, what did I do? I stepped in and asked questions to the suspects. I thought I was helping the students. I was not. The prosecutor "signalled" his disagreement of what I was doing by saying (rather frustratedly)"Now teacher is asking questions". After another question I asked, he said "I think I should sit down". I took it as a cue that I should not interrupt him and let him went on, however slow. This incident has really given me insight that we, as teachers, should know when not to talk and when to stop talking. Yeah, teacher talk matters. Thank you, my friend, for saying it out loud. Thank you as well for the reminder. - Shariza AA