Bonus Reading: Employing "Good

Talk" and "Warm Language"

By Jessica Cinco

Have you ever had one of those teachers? The ones whose monotone voice drones on and on…
and on, until you either doze off in the middle of the lecture or hopelessly slump down in your
desk, with your hands covering your face wondering if the Cosmos was trying to punish you? Or
maybe you had a professor whose lectures were so unclear, complex, or abstract that you spent
every single moment in class trying to quell a panic attack because you knew that you wouldn’t
be comprehend the course material enough to pass the test.

I had one such professor, whom I’ll call “Dr. O,” during my freshman year of college. At that time,
I was a business major with high hopes of becoming a successful business woman. I enrolled in
Dr. O’s Introduction to Microeconomics class, and as I settled myself into my desk on the first
day, I knew I was in trouble. Dr. O quickly introduced himself, the syllabus and the class. Then,
he immediately launched into his initial lecture on microeconomics. He was definitely not a
dynamic speaker. To begin with, he never once made eye contact with the students. He spent
most of the class lecturing in a dull, detached voice while simultaneously furiously scribbling
information on the board. As a result, his back was to the class for the majority of class, while he
spoke—mumbled, really—to the blackboard, instead of to the students.

While the words coming out of his mouth were in English, I struggled to understand what he was
actually saying. As I glanced around the lecture hall, I noticed expressions of sheer bewilderment
on the other students’ faces and felt slightly comforted that I wasn’t alone in my lack of
comprehension. A few brave students tried to ask Dr. O some questions to clarify the
information, but his answers were just as cryptic as the rest of the lesson. As the semester wore
on, Dr. O continued to confuse, befuddle and bore students with his lectures. My final grade in
that class was not one that I am proud of, which made me realize I was in the wrong major. I
changed my major to German and Communications and upon graduating, embarked on an ESL
teaching journey that has taken me around the world a few times and now, to Arizona. To this
day, economics remains a mystery, but I do have Dr. O’s teaching skills, or lack thereof, to thank
for inspiring me to leave the business field!

If someone were to write a book entitled, How Not to Teach, Dr. O would likely be pictured on the
front cover. Now, don’t get me wrong, Dr. O was an absolutely brilliant man, and an expert in the
field of economics; however, that doesn’t automatically make him a great teacher. Sadly, he was
unable to organize and simplify the vast amount of economics information stored in his brain and
present it in a manner easily understood by 18 year old freshmen, most of whom had never
taken an economics class. Dr. O is not alone. Teachers in every field—economics, math,
physics, and yes, even language—struggle to convey their wealth of knowledge in a logical, clear
fashion so that students can not only understand ideas, but also engage and take a deep interest
in the material.

Ken Bain, the Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at New York University, spent 15
years researching the qualities of the most effective university professors. He observed them in
class and compiled the results of his research, and offered some helpful tips to help all educators
strengthen their teaching skills. Here are two of his ideas:

Good Talk

Teachers can treat the lesson as a conversation instead of a performance. Here are a few of
Bain’s suggestions:
· Interact with students.

· Have eye contact with all students.

· Routinely check that students are understanding.

· Be aware of students’ facial expressions or body language. Bored or confused looks should be
signals to rephrase your information. Smiles and nods mean that students are interested and
relate to what you’re saying.

· Move around the room, don’t be anchored to your podium.

· Learn the students' names.

· Engage students in banter and allow them to ask questions, offer opinions and interact with the
lesson.

· Use conversational tones.

· Speak clearly and carefully. Be sure to enunciate.

· Project your voice.

· Change the focus or activity every 10-12 minutes to stimulate and hold students’ interest.

Warm Language,

Teachers and professors, in an attempt to look austere or scholarly, can sometimes take
themselves and their classroom content too seriously. Traditionally, this was done to make the
teacher appear as the all-knowing expert up on a pedestal, whom the students revere and
dutifully take notes from. As teaching methods have evolved, so have views of teachers and
classroom interactions. Teachers who adhere to the communicative approach have made a
conscious effort to avoid “putting themselves up on a pedestal,” and instead have adopted a
warm, engaging learning environment. “Warm language” was discussed in Video 5 as a means
to draw students into the lesson and further engage them. Here are some techniques for using
“warm language” in your classes.

· Talk about ideas, instead of around them.

· Bring the student “into” the lesson and work through ideas together.

· Create a clear image or idea that students can relate to.

· Personalize the class.

· Use asides (“You know,….”) and explanatories (“Well, wouldn’t you know….” and
“Goodness….”).

· Be explicit and transparent.

· Tell the “story” (or lesson) and give clear, simple explanations that students can easily
understand.

· Ask critical thinking questions that provoke thought.

· Use humor in the class.

· Bring the language down to the students’ level of knowledge without talking down to them
(Bain, 2004).

By employing “good talk” and “warm language” techniques in your classes, you can make
yourself seem more human and bring yourself down to the students’ level for a more comfortable
classroom atmosphere. As a result, students react more positively, are more engaged in the
class, and are more likely to retain what they learn from your class for years to come. You
might’ve noticed that these are some techniques that we, ourselves, have been utilizing
throughout this course. Instead of being one of those dull, incomprehensible teachers whose
classes students dread like my econ professor, Dr. O, our goal for this course is to engage,
inspire and empower you to become effective teachers in your own classrooms!

Bain, K. (2004) What the Best College Teachers Do.