{"id":884,"date":"2012-11-03T23:54:17","date_gmt":"2012-11-03T20:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eduarticle.me\/2012\/11\/03\/5-the-silent-way-99stt\/"},"modified":"2012-11-03T23:54:17","modified_gmt":"2012-11-03T20:24:17","slug":"5-the-silent-way-99stt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduarticle.me\/?p=884","title":{"rendered":"\u0631\u0648\u0634\u0647\u0627\u06cc \u0622\u0645\u0648\u0632\u0634 \u0632\u0628\u0627\u0646 \u0627\u0646\u06af\u0644\u0633\u06cc\u0633 5 – The silent Way, 99%STT"},"content":{"rendered":"


Remember the rule of 25% TTT and 75% STT<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In case you don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about, it means that a teacher should talk only 25% of the time during a good ESL lesson. TTT = Teacher Talk Time, and STT = Student Talk Time. In the early days of my ESL teaching career, I found this impossible to achieve, in fact I found it really difficult to get students to speak for 25% of the time! Have you found the same problem? Do you have a solution? Maybe this is one that will work for you.<\/strong>
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This was discovered by accident one day teaching with a severe cold and a sore throat which stopped me from being able to speak at all. It\u2019s not known if yelling a lot in order to be heard over the top of the students for several weeks had anything to do with having sore throat, but that\u2019s beside the point.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This technique can even create an environment where students are talking 99% of the time. A huge claim! You don\u2019t believe me do you? Well read on to see how you can do it, and how effective this technique really is. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Getting noticed when you enter the classroom without raising you voice or slamming books on the desk, 101. You need to create the situation where students actually see you coming down the hall and prepare themselves for your appearance. (ESL time is Showtime!) This can be achieved through the method explained in my article \u201cESL, Chanting for Classroom Management\u201d, but don\u2019t worry, you can start this without having implemented doing that first. Building a harmonious learning environment takes time and can\u2019t be established in a linear sequential process. Like everything in life, it\u2019s usually a series of overlapping circles.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s one place to start:<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

One or two of your students have to be able to read one or two simple instructions, in order to start here, so if they can\u2019t, you\u2019ll have to go right back to basics and battle your way through teaching simple instructions like, open your book to page \u2026.. Now, assuming some amount of reading ability, say, false beginner, or pre intermediate level, we can start to have some fun!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

You will run an entire class without saying one single word, so tell yourself that you can\u2019t speak. Walk into the room, and go straight to the board while making eye contact with whoever is interested, and mime having a sore throat. Write something on the board like, \u2018I can\u2019t speak\u2019, now wait for some indication of some students comprehension, then write, \u2018I have a sore throat\u2019. Wait for more confirmation. Next, write something unexpected, like, \u2018stand on one leg\u2019, (TPR is a great attention getter). Continue with a few more TPR (Total Physical Response) exercises. Then explain (in writing) that you can\u2019t talk and that they will have to read everything you write.
Using \u2018a sore throat\u2019 is a great way to get started if your lesson is about illness related vocabulary, or body parts, but if your lesson is on another subject use your imagination to incorporate some vocabulary, or structures as you see fit.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Now that you have the full attention of your students, deliver your lesson as you would normally, but you have to write ALL your instructions on the board.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

You want them talking? OK, here\u2019s how, start by asking simple yes \u2013 no questions, and use your hand to ear body language to indicate that you require students to say \u2018yes\u2019, or \u2018no\u2019. Once you\u2019ve established this, you can start to include some concept questions, always showing the need for speech from them (mime being deaf as well). <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To clearly show that speech is required, it\u2019s fun to draw a stick figure of yourself and one of the students, then use a speech bubble to give instructions and a speech bubble to show that the students have to respond. If you want them to write something, simply use the speech bubble to give directions and write the gap fill or whatever exercise on the board in a designated area. If you want to include listening, use the tapes or CDs, that\u2019s what they are for! You\u2019ll find that this will become a guessing game and students will love it, while also feeling sorry for you because you\u2019re not well, so now you have started to \u2018connect\u2019. You may also notice the natural \u2018pecking order\u2019 of the group, because a few will start to take control and tell the others what to do in their first language, that\u2019s cool, because when these other students understand what to do, they will start to learn English.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So now you have your students using their eyes to understand English, and speaking or writing in English in order to solve a problem (your sore throat, and hearing disability) both by reading and paying attention to your body language. This is \u201cpay dirt\u201d for you, you haven\u2019t said a word and the students have done all the work. Isn\u2019t teaching ESL fun?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

With this technique you can have students, chanting, oral reading, answering questions, asking questions, telling stories, playing games, and any language skill in any subject area you choose. ALL WITHOUT SAYING A WORD, and that\u2019s the first time you try it! On top of that you have also run a valuable reading for comprehension lesson! Don\u2019t work against your students, work with them and show them respect. It will come back ten fold.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Obviously you can\u2019t fake a sore throat for ever, but you can use this \u201cESL, the silent way, 99%STT\u201d technique as part of your overall teaching methodology. For example you can start a lesson by writing, \u2018this is a reading lesson\u2019, so I will not talk, and you must read everything\u2019. Or not even mention the nature of the lesson, just start writing.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Use your imagination and remember: \u201cIf you enjoy what you\u2019re doing you never have to work a day in your life.\u201d <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember the rule of 25% TTT and 75% STT In case you don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about, it means that a teacher should talk only 25% of the time during a good ESL lesson. TTT = Teacher Talk Time, and STT = Student Talk Time. In the early days of my ESL teaching career, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[182],"class_list":["post-884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-65","tag-182"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduarticle.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduarticle.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduarticle.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduarticle.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduarticle.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eduarticle.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduarticle.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduarticle.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduarticle.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}