Environments for Classroom Talk

In the classroom, there will be learners who will be extroverts and introverts.
Ones who are willing to speak and ones who are not willing to speak. What I
found interesting was this fact that some learners are not willing to speak at first.
When I was younger, I found that I needed to listen to classroom discussion in
order to learn about things. Rarely I participated in classroom discussions. I didn’t
feel comfortable in speaking out. ELL learners are might be developing their
competency in speaking, so they decide to speak when they can. They “should
not be forced to speak and speaking will come naturally after building enough
competence.” (Congmin 2) I found that with my teachers they were patient with
me and they found me participating. With the ELL learners, the advice is to
“encourage incessantly and guide them patiently and correct their errors tactfully
without arousing bad feelings of them.” (Congmin 2) I chose this symbol because
I don’t want my learners to feel bad in my classroom. I don’t want to make them
feel bad of their abilities. I want to encourage learners to speak when they are
ready. When they are ready, I will acknowledge them positively.

The BC standards talk about valuing the success of students and acting in their
best interests. This includes creating the classroom environment that facilitates
“rich opportunities” and “conditions that will foster second language
development.”(Gibbons 24) Picking the colour brown brought up the words of
wisdom and support associated with the colour. This reminded me of the role
that teachers play. Teachers are responsible for creating the conditions to learn
and have to act in the best interests of students. Teachers are there to provide
support and to be the keepers and the passers on of wisdom to their students.
Students and even ELL students need the necessary support with the appropriate
classroom conditions.

The way that we usually teach is usually is not supportive of ELL learners. Quite
often we speed along as we talk and the time that we give to learners to process
information. When we ask something of leaners we don’t give them time to
process before they give an answer. We are speeding towards our intended goal.