Reflecting on Teacher Talking Time.
As with everything in life, you will be unable to make any changes unless you first acknowledge what it is that you are actually doing. It is much easier to make yourself aware of what is going on in your classroom if you take the time to reflect and make notes about what you think happened in your classroom today. As a teacher trainer (for the International House Certificate in teaching Young Learners – IHCYL) I used to record the lessons using an mp3 or smart phone. Without listening to the recordings myself, I would email them to the individual teachers to listen to and ask them to reflect on what actually took place in the classroom (as opposed to what they thought had taken place).
One teacher noticed how different her classroom voice was to her natural voice. It was higher in pitch and louder in volume. She was hardly able to recognise herself in the recording however, there was a vast improvement in her delivery in the following lesson. Another teacher realised that not only had she drilled the language for the students she was so focussed on completing an activity she was unaware that the students had not actually produced any language. Other teachers realised that their TTT (Teacher Talking Time) was vastly greater than that of the students, and that the lessons overall were far too teacher centred. Recording the lessons also helped teachers see how long (and sometimes how boring) some of the activities were, which resulted in an improvement in their planning and their overall expectations of what is achievable.
Most importantly, all of the teachers noticed their own classroom language and instructions. Some had made the instructions too complicated for the level of the students, while others kept changing their instructions which confused the students. As a result the teachers all started planning in more detail their classroom management and the language they wanted to use. Given that many classroom routines and teaching strategies are applied almost automatically, it seems to make sense to take the time to ensure that these habits are well formulated and considered good practice.
Self-reflection task
Make yourself aware of what you are saying and what your voice sounds like from the learners’ point of view. It is very easy to record yourself nowadays using a smart phone or mp3 player. Choose a lesson which is fairly communicative (ie not a long listening or writing)
- How do you think you sound to your learners?
- Are your instructions clear enough?
- How much do you dominate the lesson?
- Do you react efficiently to different situations?
- Time how long you spend on each activity. Is the time appropriate? Is the timing of the lesson stages/ activities balanced? Do students get enough practice activities?
- What phrases do you say or noises do you make repeatedly? Are they helpful? Could they be repeated by the students?
- What could you do differently?