Teach English in Xinrong Qu Jedao Guanli Zhongxin - Datong Shi

The more a teacher talks during class the less time there will be for the students to speak their new language. When the teacher spends excessive time talking during class, it can be difficult for the students to concentrate and even leave them feeling bored, causing them to learn slower and retain less information. One of the best results of reduced teacher talk time is that students are given more time and opportunity to research and explore new information on their own, resulting in more engagement and better concentration by the students. Many times, when the teacher spends excessive time in front of the class talking, the lesson becomes tedious and hard for the students to follow. This can make it more difficult for the teacher to gauge the level of student comprehension, or if the students understood the information in the lesson at all. When the teacher uses much of the class time talking or instructing the class, the students’ time spent speaking is limited and they automatically slip into the role of respondents. As respondents the students have limited time to speak, and their opportunity to develop the skills necessary to speak fluently are greatly diminished. Every additional word a teachers speaks in front of the class is one less opportunity for a student to speak and hone their verbal skills. When a teacher is controlling in the classroom, the students tend to take less responsibility for their own progress, learning only what the teacher chooses to teach and when. Teachers have many strategies to help reduce time spent talking, and to create a better environment to effectively observe the students and aid them in acquiring greater verbal skills. Several excellent examples of this are: group work, pair work or even individual study time. A very useful guide, especially for newer teachers, is that each lesson should involve no more than 30% teacher talk time, with no more than 10 minutes of continuous talking by the teacher. When leading a lesson, the teacher can elicit information from the class instead of explaining. When students are guided by questions and given clear examples they many times don’t need to be “told” the answer. The students are motivated, and this kind of guided instruction helps facilitate easier and more successful learning. When students work in pairs or small groups this also gives them more opportunities to practice their new language. Teachers may also successfully make use of body language, hand gestures and also face gestures in place of words. Another technique instructors can experiment with to reduce talk time is to encourage students to give feedback to each other instead of directly to the instructor. Students can nominate or choose another student to respond or answer a question further reducing teacher talk time while increasing student talk time and opportunity to use the new language. When the teacher employs clear explanations and their concept checking is adequate, there should be no need to re-explain concepts or interrupt activities in order to reteach or repeat instructions to the class. Silence is very important in a classroom and at times very uncomfortable, especially for newer teachers. Silence is vital not only when students are working alone, but also to provide “processing time” between instructions, during explanations, while waiting for students to respond, and during monitoring activities. Even though there are numerous advantages to reducing teacher talk time, it is not always done. Most teachers find it easy and natural to talk to their students, oftentimes even with a little theatrics. Teaches may find the most success not in reducing their talk time to the bare minimum, but by being very aware of the quality of their time talking and instructing. This will allow them to best utilize class talk time in a way that will allow their students the most opportunity to use and practice the new language they are acquiring.