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[simon44]

I hope this is sufficiently job-related for the forum.

I teach EFL to KG and elementary students. If I ask a question, such as 'What colour is the pen?', I will get an answer from all the students of 'blue', (because I'm holding up a blue pen).

But of course, I do not want one-word answers. I want my students to practice saying a full sentence, such as 'The pen is red', 'it is red' etc.

I will repeat my full sentence to the class or individual student, and then they will usually correctly repeat it (they know all the words in the sentence and know the correct sentence structure already).

So then I'll ask 'What colour is the tomato?' and they will all say 'red' ........

I've experienced this problem for many classes, and I welcome advice how I can encourage my students to speak a full sentence, rather than single words.

Perhaps a slap for one-word replies, a sweet for 2 words, 2 sweets for 3 words etc??

[spiral78]

I think a TEFL trainer might suggest that you develop and train them using a hand gesture (moving your hands apart to indicate a longer thing) to request a full sentences.

I've never worked with kiddies, so please take this advice with a hefty grain of salt!!

[simon44]

Hi Spiral78, that's what I already do

But good advice - keep it coming

[santi84]

Hi Simon,

If I posed the same question to a group of English-speaking kinders, they would offer the same response.

My suggestion would be to get yourself a slinky. Yes, a slinky. Ask the question and hold it tightly coiled. "Blue!" -> keep it coiled. Ask again. When they say "blue", you can say "it's blue!" and pull the slinky further apart (just a bit). Ask again. "Blue!". You can respond "it is blue" and repeat pulling the slinky apart. Finally, you can say back to the children "the pen is blue!" and stretch it as far as it goes.

You could also substitute this with funny pictures stuck up on a chalk/white board and move them farther and farther apart as you progress.

This strategy works very well for K-1s who are learning how to visualize longer words and sentences in general.

I would argue (personally) that expecting full sentences from kinders learning English is not really an important goal at this time though Remember, this is still a skill they are learning in L1. Should you choose to go this route, going visual and tactic is usually best for this age group.

[fluffytwo]

Why is it that so many lessons revolve around "realia", stating the obvious, and a strange insistence on "fuller" answers?*

And I know you can't be too ambitious with young kids, but I wonder if the OP can even sense the difference between 'What colour is the tomato? The tomato/It is red' and 'What colour are tomatoes? Red' or indeed 'Red things/stuff, let's think and board 'em: tomatoes, fire engines/trucks, blood, wine, ... '.

That is, between randomly-constrained obviousnesses versus more open and thoughtful building (of wider vocabulary at least). Are these classrooms full of blind farmers awaiting the ripening of the crop or something? (But I don't mean the linguistic crop, obviously LOL).

A lot of ELT seems to have a very narrow yet overall pretty hazy 'target fixation' ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_fixation ) IMHO.

OP, for the sake of your students, if not the teachers replying here, please do yourself a favour and read something like the paper on the form of answers to Yes/No questions in Jack C. Richards' The Context of Language Teaching (CUP, first published 1985), as his points still stand even with Wh- questions (when they relate to such obvious things as the colour of most tomatoes say - it'll again be pretty much a one-word answer).


*Why make non-natives have to say more in their answers than native speakers do? That's hardly helpful, and students whipped into producing enough full-sentence answers may eventually see nothing wrong with exchanges like 'Can I help you?' 'Yes, you can'. Besides, a well-designed course will provide plenty of genuinely fuller and actually useful statements elsewhere (certainly, no end of copula-based examples).

[JoThomas]

There is a big difference between what is expected at KG level compared to other grade levels. In Kindergarten children are usually learning letters and letter sounds along with their colors. I wouldn't expect full sentences from the Kindergarten kids as they are just learning new vocabulary. With you modeling it for them in everyday situations they will start learning it.

For the higher grades, I'd suggest writing the target language on the board as an example. Repeat it and have the whole class repeat it. Then you could play some speaking games. Have children pair up and they can practice asking questions about things in the classroom and have their partner answer. Practice makes perfect after all!

You could also make cards up with colors and different cards with sentences for the younger grades (very beginners) and they can practice with a partner. One partner picks a color and the other partner picks a question and they have to practice speaking. I think part of the problem for many children is they don't have a chance to practice speaking both inside and outside the classroom. When I taught in the public system in Korea, I did a lot of practice speaking games with target vocabulary. You could also make a powerpoint or hold pictures up of different things in the classroom and have them all make a sentence aloud. Move on from things in the classroom with the students that are doing well, and make it more meaningful for them.

[simon44]

Santi84, that's a great idea to use a slinky.

As to why I should be teaching more than single words to KG students, the simple answer is because here in Myanmar, they are learning to read and write full sentences, and I (as the teacher for speaking and listening English), follow the same curriculum and lesson plan.

The students are taught to read and write by their local Myanmar teachers, and then a NES (myself), helps them to practice listening to and speaking what they have learnt in the lesson.

Now whether or not students of that young age should be learning full sentences is a question to put to the education authority. In any case, with encouragement from me, the students all manage to start forming complete sentences or phrases - the speaking level doesn't seem to be beyond their abilities.

[JoThomas]

[fluffytwo]

[simon44]

[JoThomas]

^That's great that you assess each individual student, however I bet that takes a lot of class time. My suggestion is to get them talking to each other using target language by playing games and then after they've practiced, you can give them a test either on paper or one-on-one outside of class time. I usually find time to test individual students for assessment either on one specific day planned for assessment/testing or pull them out on my preps. I'm not saying you have to do that, I'm just giving you some suggestions.

Another good idea that I've used is a pocket chart..you can even make your own or buy it online. Have the words on individual paper. You can even get the kids to individually come up and put the word in the right order and after they get the sentence, have them read it out loud.

You could also make a sentence and cut it up the individual words. Give each pair the parts of a sentence all jumbled up and have them make the sentence on their desk. You could even give the pair a reward for who can do it the fastest and say it out loud when they are finished.

[JoThomas]

oops, double post

[simon44]

Hi Jo, thanks for your reply.

The class time is very limited. The students have five 50-minute lessons of English (as a foreign language) each week, but only one of those lessons is listening and speaking English with an NES.

I spend no more than a minute with each individual student, and I use interactive learning apps on my laptop that I write (I'm a coder), to meet each learning objective. My apps automatically record the interaction with each student, and I then review this after the lesson and can plan in follow-up practice if a student has a specific problem or difficulty.

BTW, when I'm working with each individual student, I don't leave the rest of the class without practice work to do - my lessons are a great example of teacher multi-tasking

Local language speaking is not allowed at the school during lesson time (student-to-student), or at any time (student-to-teacher). So the kids do practice in speaking English with their local teachers, (who for the most part - bless them - have appalling English accents).

[JoThomas]

Okay Simon, thanks for clarifying. As you say, even though they speak English with their local teachers, they obviously aren't speaking in proper sentences. That is where you come in with playing games with full sentences and getting them to practice, practice, and practice some more with the target language.

It really is the only thing that works. When I saw the local Korean teachers getting students to continually listen and repeat, I wanted to vomit tbh. Rote learning isn't usually the best method, because what are they really learning? Are they understanding what they are learning? Likely not at all.

[simon44]