Job Discussion Forums

[Steiner]

[naturegirl321]

[Sheep-Goats]

Tickle them...



Small class, too, or is it just a few unwilling admist the herd?

-Try communication games where they have to speak or their team loses a point (if they're Chinese or European).

-Seperate them from eachother seating wise. Try the old "stacked-deck card pack for seating today" thing.

-If those fail, there's always the "Direct" method -- basically choral repititon to ingrain an instinct to always say something in repsonse to foregin language stimulus. It may make the rest of the class sick of you, though.

T: "How are you?"
SS: "I'm fine, thanks."
T: "How are you?"
SS: "I'm fine, thanks."
T: "How are you?"
SS: "I'm fine, thanks."
T: "Okay, now let's try this with individuals. I point, you talk."
SS: "I'm fine, thanks."
T: "Good! Now wait until I point."
SS: "I'm fine, thanks."

At least they're saying something.

[khmerhit]

Fine sanks an YOU??

[willy]

well i have given them to someonr eles for 2 weeks. ya i guss i should be happy i dont need to plan for them the sad part will be when they come back next term

[Clancy]

Cut out their useless tongues and sell them in the free market?

Duck tongues bring a handsome price!

[grahamb]

If you speak their L1 you could talk to them individually before the class or during a break and ask them why they're so quiet.

[ChicagoCubMike]

I've got a pre-intermediate and an intermediate intensive ESL class I teach back-to-back, four times a week to a mixed group of Mexican young adults and older adults in Chicago. It's been driving me crazy, my lower level class is like miracle class or something. They're chatterboxes in English, willing to take chances and unafraid (mostly) to speak in class. Meanwhile, in my more advanced class, most of the time you could hear a pin drop. A really small, lightweight pin, wrapped in felt and dropped onto a bed of cotton.

During pair work, I at least get half-English and half-Spanish when they do speak. But beyond pair work or our daily vocabulary warmer, they're too afraid to speak. They can write well, I know that. They just won't speak.

As it turns out, the roll of the dice has given me a Level 2 class all of whom have someone to practice English with, at work or home or school, and a Level 3 class who, by their own design or not, live and work completely in a Spanish-language milieu. They just can't (or won't) practice outside the classroom.

I've impressed upon them, if they have a TV, or a radio, or 50 cents for a newspaper, or an Internet connection, they can practice. They can read, they can practice oral/aural comprehension. I know that helped me immeasurably when I learned Portuguese (European Portuguese, which there's no other choice but to teach yourself when you live in the States where most of the Lusophones are Brazilian).

Now it's gonna be a waiting game to see if they bother to at least do that. That's my big problem. What do you do when you know your students know the language but refuse to practice so really CAN'T speak in the classroom?

[grahamb]

If all else fails, you could always threaten them with a spell in a P.O.W. camp in Iraq.

[Teacher Lindsay]

I teach Junior 1, Junior 2 & Senior 1 classes.

Three weeks ago the idea popped into my head to use a water pistol and it has been working like a charm ever since.

I watch out for students not speaking during collective reading [out loud] and pair work. I patrol the classroom and gently squirt any offenders.

The water pistol I have has a large reservoir. Initially it would be empty half way through class. Now I hardly "shoot" any student; they all talking!

Last Friday the head of the English Department approached me and asked to see my "water gun". I immediately thought, "O-oh, I've gone too far!".

She simply said "Very good.".

In the ensuing conversation she said it was a good idea. She said that the students are so lazy, almost any approach to make them talk is acceptable.

She did add that using my "water gun" during winter might not be such a good idea.

Cheers

[yaramaz]

Interesting thought about the water pistol. We were actually discussing a similar option in my department about a week ago, to deal with the chronic laziness/tardiness/insolence etc of the kids in the high school where I teach. Our solution? Paintball! With different colours for each form of bad behaviour: red paint for lateness, blue for refusing to participate or speak English, yellow for disturbing the class, etc.

That way, when walking down the hallway after the lesson, the headmaster, directors, parents, etc will see what the kid has done and react acordingly (they will be given a colour chart). Too often during my lessons i can't find anyone to send the kids to when they are rude... the powers that be seem to vanish when needed.

[Wolf]

Put them in a longboat till the class is over.
Put them in a longboat till the class is over.
Put them in a longboat till the class is over.
But early on give warning.