Open and closed questions

Closed questions: The answer is generally a “yes” or a “no”

Teacher: is it raining?

Student: yes, it is.

Open question: Require more elaborate answers

Teacher: what do you like doing when it rains?

Student: I like to stay at home and watch TV.

Why is it important to balance the type of questions that the teacher asks?

When the teacher wants to engage our students to expand their expressions and vocabulary. They
don’t want overwhelm them, so the teacher has to use open and closed questions in order to
balance the learning rhythms of all the students.

Concept Check Questions

Another form of questions that teachers often asks in class are called “concept check questions”.

These types of questions are asked in order to check student’s understanding of recent presented
concepts.

The concept questions above are created by considering the concepts behind the key sentence.

1- The fact that I am not a rich

2- The fact that I don’t have a house.
3- The fact that I cannot buy a house now… because I need money.

Wait time

Once the teacher has become mindful of the types of questions that he or she wants to ask, they
need to consider how long they are going to wait for the students to respond their questions.
So, the students usually need more time for processing questions, since there are many students
who are shy to speak, therefore, sufficient time is quiet important if the teacher wants all the
students to succeed.

However, a research has shown that usually the time that teachers wait for a response is only one
second. Now, one of the reasons why this happens may be because sometimes the teachers are
hurried because of the time planned for the lesson. Or because they need to cover some particular
topic and they don’t have enough time.

Transitions, Signposts and Benchmarks

There are points in the lesson when teachers need to take control

and lead from the front of the classroom.

For example, when the teacher wants students to move on from one activity to another.

This needs to be done in a manner that indicates that they are not just jumping from one activity
to another. That’s why teachers need to use transitions or signposts.

Transitions examples, “now I would like to make”, “in addition to” “also”.

Signpost numerical, “first”, “second”, “third”.

Problems with teacher talking time (TTT)

Confusing instructions

Sometimes teachers get embarrassed because they don’t know how to start or they don’t know
what to do first and what to do then.

Inauthentic, or Perfunctory Comments

Many times, language teachers tend to focus too much on responding to the learners “language”
and not to the “ideas expressed through that language”

Being too helpful

Many times some teachers, particularly novice teachers they feel like they need to please students
every time in everything.
Flying with the fastest

This happens when the teacher is not focusing on the entire class but listening to only one
students. This is when there is one student who is faster than the others so that the teacher works
only with that students, and the others end getting lost. So the other’s students understanding is
not checked because the teacher goes on with the fast one.

Over praising

The teacher need to encourage the students with praise. Example “you are doing great”, “good
job”, “excellent”.

However, the praise need to be delivered with sincerity, since students soon realize that the
teacher is maybe lying to them.

Interaction patterns

Interaction patterns are the different ways learners and the teacher can interact in the class. Using
the right interaction pattern is a fundamental factor in the success of any activity and the
achievement of aims.

For example

Teacher – whole group.

In this pattern the teacher interacts with all students at the same time. This can be used, for
example, to collect feedback from activities.

Pairs and small groups.

This is probably the most common interaction pattern used by teachers, so students work in small
groups and the teacher walks around listening, and it the teacher intervenes a little bit.

USING BLACKBOARDS/WHITEBOARDS

The whiteboard, or blackboard is a focal point of attention for students and teachers alike.

Since it is what the students are looking at almost all the time during the classroom.