FP Togetherness TESOL in the DR

TOGETHERNESS in ELT

But with Less Teacher Talk Time

and More Student Talk Time

Fenel Pierre

TESOL 2016

Aim

I. Encourage Teachers to self-assess

their TTT

II. Present useful activities to reduce

TTT and consequently increase

STT

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

I

Encourage T to self-assess their TTT

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Introduction: Things in Common

1. Find someone you haven’t met before.

2. Introduce yourselves.

3. Find at least three non-obvious things you

have in common.

4. Share with another couple.

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Chorus

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

The more we get together, together, together;

The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.

For your friends are my friends;

And my friends are your friends;

The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.

Preliminary definitions

TTT refers to the amount of time which teachers

instruct, lecture, manage or/and organize the

lesson (Nilton, 2005), roughly from 20% to 30%

of the class time to provide comprehensive

input (Krashen, S (1981).

STT refers to the amount of time students use

while in classroom interaction (Darn, 2007),

roughly about 70% to 80% during the course of

the lesson to provide output."Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

1. Students’ opportunities to speak in class should be maximized to help them

develop speaking in English.

2. Students must be given ample opportunities to communicate, with as much

teacher intervention as possible.

3. Whenever a student can say something, the teacher should interfere or

intervene by talking.

4. Neither the teacher nor any one student should monopolize talking time in

class.

5. Teachers must give students sufficient time to formulate their ideas in order

for them to sufficiently elaborate.

6. The teacher should answer his or her own questions.

7. Classroom techniques like personalization and student-to-student questions

are not useful to maximize student STT.

From ICPNA’s Teachers’ Guide: Concepts, Practices &Techniques

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Task 1: True / False (Handout)

Data collection & analysis

Proportion of TTT VS STT

Nb of Ts’ words % Nb of Ss’ words % Total Nb words %

Teacher 1 3144 (86.4 %) 496 (13.6%) 3640 (100%)

Teacher 2 6034 (91.1 %) 590 (8.9%) 6624 (100%)

Teacher 3 4141 (89.5%) 487 (10.5%) 4628 (100%)

Teacher 4 2994 (60.4%) 1966 (39.6%) 4960 (100%)

Teacher 5 3226 (87.7%) 452 (12.3%) 3678 (100%)

Teacher 6 3130 (85.9 %) 514 (14.4%) 3644 (100%)

Average 3778.2 (83.4%) 758.8 (16.6%) 4529 (100%)

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

ZZZZZZ ????

Europa

Copa

BLA, BLA, BLA,

BLA BLA, BLA

• Who is doing the talking?

• What are the students doing?

• Do they seem engaged/

motivated/?

• Will they end up speaking the

target language? Why or Why

not?

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Task 2: Think – Pair – Share

Copa

????

Europa

ZZZZZZ

Behaviors/Techniques Conducive to

Excessive Teacher Talk Time (TTT)

See Handout

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Reasons to reduce TTT

1. It minimizes STT

2. It bores the Ss (BLA, BLA, BLA)

3. It concentrates on grammar rule,

vocabulary and feedback

4. It makes the learner passive

5. It discourages interaction

6. It minimizes SS’s learning autonomy

(Darn, 2007)

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

II.

Useful activities to reduce TTT

and consequently increase STT

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

What the experts say

According to second language acquisition

theories, both teacher and students should

participate in language classes actively.

Research (…) show that teachers need to

pay attention to the amount and type of

talking they do, and to evaluate its

effectiveness in the light of their pedagogical

objectives.” (Nunan, D. 1991: 198)

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Scenario: Imagine you have just come out

of teaching an English class, where you

subordinated teaching to learning.

What did you hear, see, feel, etc., in terms

of actual events?

Think – Pair - Share

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Some characteristics

• The students appeared to be motivated.

• They (not the teacher) were talking in

English the whole time.

• Participation was fairly evenly distributed.

• They were having fun and enjoying

themselves

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Activities / Techniques / Tasks

that can help reduce TTT and

increase STT

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

I. Activities based on tasks

II. Activities based on game-like processes

III. Activities using the learning circle

IV. Activities based on prepared texts

V. Activities based on presentations

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Sample activities based on tasks

1. Find and list the differences between two

pictures or texts

2. Create a story

3. Decide on the solution to a problem

4. Plan an event

5. Debate: Decide whether a group agrees

or disagrees with a controversial

statement

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

6. Don’t say yes or no

7. Dialogues

8. Reader’s theater (See Handout)

9. Jazz chants

10. A book / movie review

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Sample activities based on tasks

Things to consider

1. Include ‘speaking lots of English’ as part of the task.

2. Share with them the importance of keeping to English.

3. Let Ss know they can succeed

4. Provide a good learning environment where Ss feel

comfortable with the people they are speaking to.

5. Make the activities interesting and fun to do.

6. Make the demands of the speaking task well within the Ss’

ability.

7. Let Ss know their speech will be well received

8. Appoint monitors.

9. Include assessment of amount of English spoken as part of

feedback session.

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Picture 1

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Picture 2

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Task 3: Find and list the differences

between these two pictures

Why was it fun?

A game-like challenge, involving

• a task which has clear, achievable goal with tangible result

Also:

Open-ended

Full participation

Success-orientation

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Strategies to Reduce (TTT) and

Increase Student Talk Time (STT)

Do’s and Don’t’s

See Handout

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Task 4: Here are 10 qualities of a great teacher.

Put them in order of importance, through group

consensus (no voting!) (See Handout)

• Set high expectations

for all Ss to succeed

• Challenge Ss’ abilities

• Sense of humor

• Passion for teaching

and respect for students

• Leadership Skills

• Warm & enthusiastic

• In-depth Content

knowledge

• Lack of clear learning

objectives

• Ability to make subject

interesting

• Creative

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

# 4: Use the Learning Circle

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

# 4: Use the Learning Circle

• There is no head

• No one can hide

• Everyone listens, leads, supports

• Everyone is accountable

Three questions to consider

1. Should the Teacher interrupt to correct

when a student is speaking?

• Hinders fluency, which is the main aim of

the activity

• May disturb and discourage the student

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

2. How can I stop students lapsing into

L1?

• If they speak L1 here and there, it’s not a

disaster.

• If they speak English at least 75% of the

time – that’s success!

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Three questions to consider

3. What are some of Ss’ reactions

when they are in charge? YEAH?

• “It looks like the T is never prepared; s/he

hardly explains.

• “I paid my tuition to be taught.”

• “The students do all the work; the T gets

all the money.”

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Three questions to consider

1. Students’ opportunities to speak in class should be maximized to help them

develop speaking in English. (T)

2. Students must be given ample opportunities to communicate, with as much

teacher intervention as possible. (F)

3. Whenever a student can say something, the teacher should interfere or

intervene by talking. (F)

4. Neither the teacher nor any one student should monopolize talking time in

class. (T)

5. Teachers must give students sufficient time to formulate their ideas in order

for them to sufficiently elaborate. (T)

6. The teacher should answer his or her own questions. (F)

7. Classroom techniques like personalization and student-to-student questions

are not useful to maximize student STT. (F)

From ICPNA’s Teachers’ Guide: Concepts, Practices &Techniques

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Task 1: True / False

Conclusion & Recommendations

In communicative EFL classes, we need to

reduce our TTT to 20 to 30% and increase STT

to 70 to 80% of the class time. We need to

provide ample talking time to our students using

structured group work and pair work; and using

different strategies such as providing brain

storming activities, peer evaluation and

feedback.

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

THANK YOU

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

????????????

fpierre@anseyepouayiti.org

fenelpierre369@yahoo.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fenel-pierre-

aa034841

References

Bailey, K. M., & Savage, L. (Eds.) (2006) New ways in teaching speaking. TESOL.

Caleb Gattegno, 1976. Freeing the Students, from The Common Sense of Teaching

Foreign Languages. Pp. 1-14. 1976.

Caleb Gattegno, 1970. Excerpt from What We Owe Children: The Subordination of

teaching to Learning. Pp. 115-121

Cook, G. (2000). Language Play, Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Darn, S. (2007). Teacher Talk Time. “ Teaching English British Council and BBC.

http://www.teacingenglish.org.ok/think/articles/teacher-talk-time

De Jong, N., & Perfetti, C. A. (2011). Fluency Training in the ESL Classroom: An

Experimental Study of Fluency Development and Proceduralization. Language Learning,

61(2), 533-568

Folse, K. S. (1993…)Talk a lot / Discussion Starters / First discussion starters. University of

Michigan Press.

Graham, C. (2006). Creating chants and songs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Harmer, P. (2005). How and when should teachers correct? Research News: The

Newsletter of the IATEFL REsearch SIG, 15, 38-39.

.

."Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

References.

Klippel, F. (1985). Keep talking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Krashen, S (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning.

Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Nilton, H. (2005). Teacher Talking Time in the EFL classroom. Profile issues in Teachers’

Professional Development (6) pp97-106 Columbia: Universidad

Nacional de Columbia. Retrieved from:

http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=169213801009v

Nunan, D. (1989). Understanding Language Classroom. New York: Prentice Hall.

Nunan, D. (1991). Language teaching methodology: A textbook for teachers.

Pica, T. (2000). Tradition and transition in English language teaching. System, 28 (1), 1-18

Pierre, F. Peer Interaction in the Haitian Public School Context, M.A.T. School for

International Training, 2005

Rossiter, M. J., Derwing, T. M., Manimtim, L. G., & Thomson, R. I. (2010). Oral

Fluency: The Neglected Component in the Communicative Language Classroom.

Canadian Modern Language Review, 66(4), 583-606.

Ur, P. (forthcoming) Discussions and more. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

Chorus

"Teaching must be subordinated to learning." Caleb Gattegno

The more we get together, together, together;

The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.

For your friends are my friends;

And my friends are your friends;

The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.