Why should Teacher Talk be limited? What is a good balance between Teacher Talk and Student Talk? What are some teaching strategies to accomplish this?

2. Well…In a nutshell…

3. 200 – 300 ?s per day
2..Yes, a whopping 2!
Average Teacher vs Student questions
https://www.tes.com/news/john-hattie-teachers-must-see-
their-impact-believe-it

4. So, how much talk is
too much talk?
vs

5. A better question:
When do students learn?
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108035/chapters/
Why-Talk-Is-Important-in-Classrooms.aspx

6. http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108035/chapters/
Why-Talk-Is-Important-in-Classrooms.aspx
“Reading and writing float on a
sea of talk,“ James Britton

7. First, lets define Teacher Talk
It includes non-verbal
gestures….
Everything a teacher says
in a class (online or
other)
And…

8. But, it is different from other
talk because it is...
• Focused and deliberate with purpose
• Supports student thinking and learning
• Motivates students to want to learn
• Stimulates language learning
• Builds rapport
• Graded to level of learners
• Creates a language-rich environment

9. What color did you
use?
I. Language with Purpose (Construction)
A. Asking questions
• Open-ended, not ‘fishing’ questions
vs
You used the
color blue. Did
that remind you
of something?
• Extend wait time to support student thinking
• Redirecting – ask ?s to recall prior learning
What did we say was the next step in ________?
vs
The next step is _____.

10. B. Feedback—timely, informative, brief, non-
judgmental
Non-Verbal: Watching, and then acknowledging
with a nod or a smile.
I. Language with Purpose (Continued)
• Types
Statement: I like what you did with ___ because….
Question: Am I understanding you to mean ____?
• Critiquing that motivates student to learn
Good start. What do you want to add to that?
https://youtu.be/hqh1MRWZjms (need to copy into browser) Ron Berger, The Story of Austin’s Butterfly
http://perino.pbworks.com/f/Effective+Feedback.pdf

11. II. Talk as a Means of Learning (Construction)
C. Strategies for Language Learning
• Repairing Language –
1. Repeat incorrect phrase and emphasize error
2. Rephrase your sentence using other words
3. Elicit student self-correction by repeating up to the error
4. Use TPR with any of the above
• Instructions: use ‘to the point’ language
• Supplement with non-verbal gestures (TPR)
Ex: Can you repeat that?; Listen and spell the word I say.
https://www.eslbase.com/teaching/giving-checking-instructions
https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/etf_55_3_pg10-19.pdf

12. • Modeling
1. Think Aloud for new concepts/words
Keep language simple and brief.
Visuals and TPR are helpful when appropriate
• Scaffolding
Provide connections with student home language and
learning from prior lessons
Ex: You learned common sayings in your language.; or, What did we learn
about verbs with the subject ‘it’? Yes, add ‘s’. Now, we learn
animal subjects follow same rule for ‘it’.
https://www.edglossary.org/scaffolding/ https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED518758.pdf
II. Talk as a Means of Learning (Construction)
C. Strategies for Language Learning (Cont’d)

13. • Eliciting Student Talk-Questions & Sentences
1. Eliciting Vocabulary
a. Like Jeopardy, give student a word/answer and they ask a question.
Ex: What word means to make something new? (create)
b. Give student definition of word and they think of the word.
c. Give student a synonym of target word to elicit a word.
d. Use defined word in printed material; ask student to paraphrase
e. Ask student question that requires using vocabulary word
2. Eliciting Grammar
a. Provide student with a prompt using target grammar, so their response must use it, too
b. Have student notice target grammar in text readings and explain them.
3. Eliciting Ideas
a. Use titles/headings to elicit predictions from student as to subject of text
b. Use pictures and mind maps to elicit thoughts and ideas from students
c. Student thinks of 3 weekend/vacation activities; ask ?s until matches w/activity of Teacher.
II. Talk as a Means of Learning (Construction)
C. Strategies for Language Learning (Cont’d)
https://busyteacher.org/23819-15-eliciting-techniques-for-esl.html Susan Verner, What is Eliciting?

14. • Eliciting Student Talk-Questions & Sentences
1. Eliciting student talking through Listening and Silences
a. Allow students time to think at their own pace
b. Allow students time to reflect and think through their choice of words
before responding to a question
c. Formalize this by specifically stating to students to take an amount
of time to think.
II. Talk as a Means of Learning (Construction)
C. Strategies for Language Learning (Cont’d)
https://theartofeducation.edu/2017/11/06/silence-teaching-tool/

15. III. Summary
The goal of teacher talk is not to prevent the teacher from
talking in the classroom. Rather, it is to use our words with
the purpose of guiding ESL students to find their voice in the
English language. Learning to use question and feedback
strategies for the purpose of eliciting students to express their
own thoughts and ideas, provides students opportunities for
exploring and using a vocabulary-rich dialogue, with less fear
of failure and more rewarding encouragement for incremental
accomplishment. Students who are encouraged to persevere in
their step-by-step progress by purposeful teaching, ultimately
will gain mastery of the English language.
Following is a brief discussion of how to use some of these
strategies to present a lesson on ‘Safety Tips’.

16. IV. Presenting Online Safety Activity
A. There are two things about the topic of
internet safety in an online classroom:
one good, one not so good.
1. Most students have familiarity with this in
their home language. So, this is a scaffolding
opportunity. Visuals will definitely help with this.
Students will find many opportunities to connect and
understand corresponding words in English. However,
the topic itself is not so interesting, which makes it all
the more important to use language and visuals to
motivate students to connect with the topic.

17. IV. Presenting Online Safety Activity
B. Strategies To Use
1. Introducing Student to Topic
Holding up a picture while asking an open-ended question that
stimulates student thinking about their internet activity.
Ex: What web gadgets do you have in your home?
Then you can brainstorm ways you both use them,
how many you both have, and discuss each other’s favorite.
This is an opportunity
to redirect students to
connect with prior
learning about
technology in their home
and words that name
gadgets.

18. IV. Presenting Online Safety Activity
B. Strategies To Use
2. Transition to Instruction—Show Picture
Ask an open-ended question that provides an opportunity for
students to reflect on what think about when they see this.
Ex: What do you think is happening? Provide
an extended wait time to elicit student
responses that students will be able to think
through the words and formulate complete
sentences. Write responses on whiteboard,
providing reinforcing language in the
form of comments on student language.
Then a second question that will start the
instruction, such as: What ideas do you
have about making the internet safe? What
are some things we need to protect?

19. IV. Presenting Online Safety Activity
B. Strategies To Use
3. Instruction-Use Images for Each Safety Rule
You can elicit more structured responses by circling words from
their responses that fit the 5 rules, such as personal information or
name, phone number, and so on. Then ask students: How can we
keep our personal information safe? You could make blank posters,
filling out information students express
something like this sample. You could further
help students to keep these positive by changing
‘Don’t Meet Up’ to ‘Meeting Up is Dangerous’. Then
you can extend to show this makes an acronym to
help them remember. Using these strategies to-
gether utilizes the reminding strategy as learning
rules are presented as positive things, with
students using their own words and learning in a fun way.