Unit 2 Classroom Interaction

Lesson 1 Teacher Talk

Synopsis: One of the most important requirements for optimal language learning is to provide
the appropriate environment for learners to develop language skills. Such environment must
include appropriate language input for learners. Teacher talk in the classroom constitutes one
major source of this input.
Lesson aims:
By the end of the lesson a student will have improved the following areas of language:
Reading: speculating, reading for detail, opinion; multiple matching, scanning and skimming
Listening: listening for opinion, gist, detail
Speaking: picture description, discussions, debates
Writing: summary writing, opinion essay, making notes, making the list of ideas
Vocabulary: Teacher Talk collocations, completing the gaps, key words
Grammar: imperatives
Pronunciation: intonation of opinion words

Key aspects:
1. Non-Verbal Encouragement
2. Body Language
3. Verbal Reprimands
4. Teacher Talking Time (TTT)

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 Non-Verbal Encouragement
Activity 1. Spark
Look at the pictures. Identify the different types of lesson organisation and discuss the
advantages and disadvantages of each.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/ClassroomMoveableFurnitureITESMCC
M_02.JPG

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Queensland_State_Archives_1640_Kelvi
n_Grove_State_School_Teacher_and_Class_April_1951.png

http://courtneyjaydebridges.weebly.com/classroom-context.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-cgOpISlYM

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Activity 2. Speaking
What do you think creates a successful lesson? Look at the list below and number the various
factors in order of importance (1 = most important, 6 = least important). Then discuss your
answers with a partner and try to convince the others about their point of view.
- Good lesson planning
- The teacher’s knowledge of the subject
- The relationship between the teacher and the student
- The student’s interest in the subject
- The appropriate teaching method
- Your own ideas
Activity 3. Reading https://www.nde-
ed.org/TeachingResources/ClassroomTips/Motivating_Students.htm????????????
a. Pre-reading. How can a teacher praise his/her student? Brainstorm the ideas.
b. Reading. Look at the headlines below. Write down three things you expect to find in the
article.
Now read the article and see if you were right.

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c. Reading Why does patting have such an effect?
d. Writing. Complete the short summary of the article adding one word to each gap.
Researchers initially … how often teachers touched their pupils. They then … some of the
teachers to touch their pupils … when they praised them. They found that in the classes in which
teachers touched … they praised, the pupils’ … increased dramatically and disruption in the class
….
e.. Vocabulary. Write down 3 words from the text you do not know, read the words of other
learners and choose to you think you could explaine. Provide the examples of usage.
f. Speaking
Discuss in a group.
1. What do you think about the results of this experiment?
2. Do you think patting would have the same effect with secondary age or adult students?
Explain your point of view.
3. Do/ Would you pat your students? Why/Why not?

Body Language

Activity 4. Watching
A. Pre-watching
1. Are there any gestures you
typically use in your country?
2. Are their any gestures you
typically use in the class?
2. How can you show a person that
you understand him or her? How
can you indicate that you are
following what is being said - or not
following it?

From: https://twitter.com/cbechervaise/status/462961669128216577

B. Watching.
Watch the video about hand gestures (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h0V1YkccEE).
Which of these gestures are used in your country? What do they mean?
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According to the video, which hand gestures should you avoid in the Middle East, Brazil, Italy
and Germany?

Activity 5. Reading
A. Pre-reading.
You’re going to read a text called Nonverbal tricks for Teachers. Below are a list of non-verbal
‘tricks’ and the effect that they have. With a partner, guess which ‘trick’ corresponds to which
effect.

1. Use your voice

2. Keep your arms loose a. Increase confidence

3. Vary your facial gestures b. Increase retention rates

4. Keep your hands visible c. Increase trust

5. Vary your voice tone d. Increase your popularity

6. Keep your head up

Now read the text quickly and see if you were right.

B. Reading
Read the text again and put the following sub-headings in the right section
A. Nonverbal Hooks:
B. Power Posing:
C. Expressiveness:
D. Showing Your Hands:

C. Vocabulary

Now read the text again and put the words below into the correct spaces

whole roll emphasize expansive hook tested

captivate concepts trouble plant rated

Nonverbal Tricks for Teachers

1.
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Our hands are our trust indicators. This means that when other people can’t see our hands, they
have a.______trusting us. Whenever you are teaching–in front of a classroom or on camera you
always want to have your hands visible. Keep them out of your pockets, don’t put them behind
your back or under a desk and on camera be sure to get your b.______ body in the shot.
2.
Researchers at Harvard Business School found that the more c. ________you are–roll your
shoulders back, firmly d. ______ your feet, open your chest and keep your head up- the more
confident you feel and the more confident others perceive you. This is called power posing–
taking up space with your body. When teaching keep your arms loose, e. _______ your shoulders
back and keep your head up. This will help you claim the room and own your material.

Another interesting study at Harvard Business School had candidates do mock-interviews. The
researchers had participants power pose before they walked into the room. Those who power
posed were f._______ as more confident, intelligent and skilled. Most importantly, those
candidates FELT MORE POWERFUL! 

3.
Typically there are very low retention rates on verbal material. You need to g. _____the brain
into remembering your content with nonverbal and verbal explanations. Try to think of ways you
can explain your h. _______ using your hands, your voice or your body. Check out the video
above for some examples!
4.
Professor Stephen Ceci i. ______ how much body language helped his student evaluations in a
clever study. He scripted one of his classes so the verbal content was exactly the same. In one
class he used his typical body language, in the other he used a few nonverbal tricks including
nonverbal expressiveness. This means he varied his voice tone, used a wide variety of facial
gestures to j. _________his points and moved his hands while teaching. In the expressive
nonverbal class, he got higher ratings from students in every single area–including textbook
quality! This shows us that being expressive nonverbally k. ________ our students and helps
them remember us and the material more favorably.
5. The learning doesn’t stop here…
Adapted from : http://www.scienceofpeople.com/2014/05/5-body-language-tips-teachers/

D. Post-reading (face-to-face, optional)

Students had instructions written and they had to think about gestures to demonstrate
instructions.
1. Calm the audience
2. Praise a student.
3. You are upset with the student’s behavior
4. Disagree with a student
5. Invite a student to come to the board
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 6. Ask a student to sit down
7. Ask a student to stand up
8. Encourage a student to continue answering
9. It’s time to go.
10. Can I borrow your mobile?
11. You’ve got a ladder in your tights.
12. I’m having a terrible time.
13. I need something to eat.

E. Watching
Watch this video and note down any suggestions for using body language in the classroom that
aren’t mentioned in the reading text. How do they reinforce learning?
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/reinforcing-learning

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 Verbal Reprimands
Activity 6. Reading

A. Pre-reading.

Is it necessary to use verbal reprimands?

Why/ Why not? Are there any advantages
of using reprimands in the classroom? If
yes, what are they?

Give examples of reprimands from your

practice in the school. Tell your colleagues
about your experience.

From: http://pad2.whstatic.com/images/thumb/4/4f/Discipline-Children-in-the-Classroom-Step-3-
Version-4.jpg/aid1093018-728px-Discipline-Children-in-the-Classroom-Step-3-Version-4.jpg

B. Reading.
Read the suggested pieces of advice. Do you think they are important? Why?
a. Do not scream at a student.
b. Reprimand the student immediately and by name.
c. Do not invade a child’s personal space during a reprimand
d. Don’t walk away from the student as you deliver your warning.
Now read the text and put each piece of advice in the right place.

o  ____________________________It will be interpreted as weakness. Literally stand

your ground as you metaphorically do the same.
o  _________________________Yelling at members of your class severely limits the way they
can respond to you. Basically, it gives them two options: stand their ground and get in worse
trouble or submit and lose face with their peers. If you don’t want the student to yell and be
disrespectful to you, then act in kind.
o .__________________________Doing so belittles the student and may stimulate a knee-jerk
reaction by the student that makes things worse. Select a position in the classroom where you
can deliver your verbal warning shot so that everyone (especially the offending student) can
see and hear you clearly. If, even for a moment, a child feels you are a physical threat, your
actions become indefensible to parents and the administration.
o ________________________ Do not wait until the end of class and say, “I saw some people
copying off each other’s work, and I want you to know that’s against the rules.” Stop what
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 you are doing, look directly into the eyes of the offending student, describe the disruptive
behavior, describe acceptable behavior, refer to the class rules, and announce this event as a
verbal warning. For instance, you could say “John, stop copying off of Megan’s paper. You
know that’s unacceptable behavior. This is not a group project, so you have no business
looking at anyone’s paper but your own. I don’t want to see you, or anyone else in this room,
with eyes pointed anywhere but straight at your own desks. Understood?”

From: http://www.abcte.org/files/previews/preptoteach/s5_p5.html

C. Vocabulary.

Read the text again. Find the clue words that will help you to remember the main ideas in the
article. Create a mind map. (www.mindmeister.com)

Activity 7. Watching.

Watch the video ‘Classroom Management and Discipline, 6-12, Part II: Dealing with
Challenging, Difficult Students’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpgb6-pX1DU)

1. What strategies impress you? Why? Which of them do you think might be useful for you?

2. Now watch the video again and write down the exact words that the teacher uses to deal with
the student in each case.

Activity 8. Speaking

Although some teachers consider that reprimanding really helps dealing with difficult children
others believe that reprimanding students is never justified. Half the group should present the
arguments of reprimanding another half should contradict.

Activity 9. Writing

Write an opinion essay of about 300-350 words on the following:

Should teachers always reprimand the action and never the person?
If you need some advice on writing opinion essays, you could look at
From: http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/writingguides/

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 Teacher Talking Time (TTT)
Activity 10. Reading
A. Pre-reading
1. What percentage of TTT should there be in a lesson? Why?
2. What might affect the amount of TTT?
3. What can teachers do to reduce TTT?

B. Reading.
1. Below you can read a number of strategies that can be used to reduce TTT. Read the
description and title the strategy. Underline the key words that helped you provide the title.
2. Write down one advantage and one disadvantage of each strategy. Compare your answers with
another learners.

1. Is it realistic to expect every student to reply promptly

and accurately? Of course not. Some students may be
able to fire off a rapid response, but this is not always the
case. Some students need time to understand and process
what you’ve said/asked. Then, they need time to come up
with the right response. So if you want to speak less and
get them to speak more, you’ll have to give them those
precious seconds they need. If it’s hard for you to wait,
count. Five seconds. Or more if you can. It may be hard at
first for you and the other students to take those few
seconds of silence, but it’ll be worth it.
2. Have you ever stopped to think that when one student
asks you a question, another student may know the
answer? Try this technique:
S1: Why is this answer wrong?
T: Mmmm… (looks around the classroom or even
directly at another student)
S2: Because “beautiful” is a long adjective and so the
comparative is “more beautiful”.
And isn’t it beautiful when your students can help each
other, and you don’t have to say a single word?
3. Quite often we act out role plays with another student.
But if you get students into pairs for the role plays and
simply walk around to assist, you will speak less, and
they will speak more. The same goes for group work,
whether you have them do a writing task, like write a
story together, or a speaking task, like a discussion.
4. If the instructions are in the coursebook or the
worksheet, why must you read them out loud and explain
them to the class? If they are pretty straightforward, have

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 a student read them to the class and another
explain/rephrase if someone hasn’t understood. This is
also a great way to keep eager beavers happy; they get to
explain something that is very clear to them, and those
who need a little extra help still get the assistance they
need.
5. If you ask students yes/no questions, that’s basically
what you’ll get – a yes or a no (and the occasional
“maybe”). The more questions you ask with where, why,
how often, when, etc…the more they’ll have to speak.
But just don’t stop at one question:
T: What kind of music do you listen to?
S1: I listen to rock music.
T: Why?
S1: Because I like it.
T: Where do you listen to it?
S1: I listen to it everywhere: at home, on the bus, on my
way to school…
T: (asks S2) How about you, Tommy?
And Tommy should have a pretty good idea of what he
can say about his music preferences.
6. Don’t echo back what students say. Don’t blabber on
and on about your weekend. Don’t fill the silence with
useless chatter. Of course, you can have relaxed
conversations with students, but save those for either the
very beginning or the end of class, or what’s even better,
the break. During class time, try to focus your efforts on
getting them to speak.
7. When we tell students the answer, they passively
receive it. They ask, “What’s this?”, and you say, “It’s a
stapler”. It’s too easy for everyone, including you. If
students don’t remember a word, for example, try to elicit
it from them and feel free to give them clues.
S1: What’s this?
T: Oh! You mean this device we use to staple papers
together? What’s this called?
S1: It’s a stapler.
Much too often we tell: Remember when we talked about
the different types of weather? We have cloudy, sunny,
etc… Don’t tell them what they are if you’ve already seen
it in class! Get them to say it!

Activity 11. Watching.

Watch the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOEIwQfs0Zo

1. List the strategies for reducing TTT that are mentioned.

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2. For each strategy, give an example of a situation where you might not want to follow this
advice.

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