g in class? If you walk into some classrooms, the only voice you hear is the teacher’. In a language learning lesson, however, this may not be in the best interests of the students. * When there is too much TEACHER TALKING TIME (TTT) in class, there will not be enough STUDENT TALKING TIME (ST), even though itis the students who need speaking practice, not the teacher! + One of the ways of maximising student talking time is to have the students working in pains and GRours 67. * There are, however, good reasons why some teacher talking time is a good thing. ‘Teachers arc the best source of CoMPREHENSIBLE INPUT ~>35 (language that students ‘more or less understand the meaning of, even though itis above their own speaking or writing level). ‘+ If we want to be comprehensible, we need to ‘rough-tune’ the language we use. In other words, we will simplify what we say, use repetition, say the same thing in different ways and (sometimes) use exaggerated intonation, ROUGHLY-TUNED INPUT is not the same as baby talk (although that éa form of roughly-tuned input in a different context); itis, instead, a way of helping students to AcaUiRE language. * Most of the everyday language that students hear (especially at ower Levers 41) comes from their teacher, and it is the teacher’ voice that is the main model for the students’ way of speaking the foreign language ~ at least at the beginning. The teacher's voice ‘Our voices are pethaps the most important CLASSROOM RESOURCE that we have. We need 10 use them wisely and well, + We need to be audible in class so that even the students at the back can hear us clearly. However, this does not mean shouting! Shouting usually sounds unattractive — and when teachers shout too often, students no longer listen (or just talk more loudly so that they can hear themselves). This is especially true when we are trying to quieten students down or regain control* When teachers shout, it often looks as if they are not calm, and calmness is important when there are o'SCPLINE problems 71 in a lesson. * It is important to vary our voice in a lesson. If we always speak at the same volume, at the same speed or in the same tone of voice, then our students will get bored ~ and it is more difficult to play different notes >65 for different STAGES OF ALESSON ~>80. * Teachers need to look after their voices. We should try to relax our shoulders, breathe properly (from the diaphragm, not just the upper chest), and make sure that there are ‘moments in every lesson when we are not straining our voice, '* When teachers have throat problems, they should speak as little as possible and avoid caffeine, alcohol and very cold drinks Giving instructions One of the most important things that teachers do is GiviNG INSTRUCTIONS, for example when we want to put students into GRouPs ->67, start an INFORMATION-GAP ACTIVITY >5O or set up a DesaTe 52 or a team GAME >49. ‘+ When we give instructions, we should keep them as simple as possible and try to put them in a logical order. * If we are going to give students a handout or ask them to open their books, itis a good idea to do this after we give our instructions. If we do it before, the students will look at the handout or book: they will not listen to us. + When we have given instructions, its often a good idea to check that the students have understood them. We can ask the students to repeat the instructions back to ws, ‘We can ask them questions, such as IVhat must you do first? Is it OK for you look at each other's pictures? (for DESCRIBE AND ORAW ~>50), How long barve you got for this activity? © Ifthe teacher and the students share a language, the teacher can ask the students to translate the instructions into their 77. This will clearly indicate whether or not they have understood the instructions. However, this may break the ‘English atmosphere’ in the class. * The best kind of instruction is DEMONSTRATION. If we really want our students to know how they should do an activity, we can get them to do it first with our help. One of the best ways of doing this is for the teacher to do the activity with one student (or a group of students) while the rest of the class watch. The teacher can guide the demonstration students through the activity and then everyone knows exactly what to do ELD, Teaching ideas: demonstrating a Find someone who ... activity ‘When we use a FIND SOMEONE WHO... activity 49 for the frst time, the students need to understand exactly how it works. They have to go round the class finding someone who ddoes/has done/will do (et. the things on their chart - and writing down the names of people who say yes. (One of the best ways of doing this s to put the chart on the board (or have a student at the front ofthe class with their chart in their and). The teacher can ELICIT the questions for the chart and show the students what to write ~ depending on the answers they get ‘We look at giving instructions and checking meaning in more detail in 69. 153Giving instructions ‘There are a number of things we need to do when giving instructions. * We should keep our instructions simple, using short simple sentences, For example, ae . instead of saying (for a DescRIB= AND ORAW activity ~>50): ictions, Taday I would like you to get into pairs with the person next to you and when that’s all sorted ing meani ut, then FU give you one of the pitures P's got ere which Vl band out pair by pair and checking meaning then one ofyou takes the picture and be or she nsustn't show the picture that I bave given them to their neighbour wwe can say: OK, I want you to work in pairs. You and you. You two. Fm going to give one student a picture. Do not shew it 0 your partner .. ee * We need to break down the instructions we want to give into manageable chunks so the students don’t have to take in too much information at the same time. We discuss SCAFFOLDING in ->65, 91 * We must make our instructions logical and covexeNt 34. For example, instead of saying 1) Don’t soz the picture to your partner. 2) I'm going to give you a picture, we will give the instructions in the sequence 2,1. * Where possible, we will demonstrate the task. We can get a student or several students to help us. * Where possible, we should let the students see us doing the activity. For example, if ‘we want them to get involved in a DEAR reading activity 54, they should see us reading, too. If we want them to learn how to use dictionaries, they should see us using them appropriately. ‘+ We don't have to give our instructions all at once. We can feed in new instructions as an activity progresses. ‘An example of instruction giving EI ‘The teacher (Conor) wants the students to do an activity called It says here ..’->29, Notice the times that he 1) gives clear instructions, 2) marks stages of the activity and 3) DEMONSTRATES parts of the activity by reading himself so that the students can see him, and then modeling what he wants them to do. Conor: (1) What you need to do is read the text and find your favourite sentence. OK? Cool. @) Conor reads the text, too, as an example. Conor: (2) OK, one more minute. Conor: (2) OK, 50 we've all read the text. What we're going to do now is lock a the text and this time (1) want you to choose your favourite sentence, OK, and then practise reading t. Choose your favourite sentence and then practise reading it (3) Conor practises reading himselt Conor: (2) OK, good, so what you'r going to do now is (1) ead your sentence tothe class and make it sound like the most exciting, crazy thing you have ever heard. For ‘example (3) (he excagerates) “The largest number of ‘extras in a fm was for Gandhi 1998; 300,000 for the funeral scene’ Wow! Yeah, | know, it says here, (He reminds the students ofthe task) OK? 154