 Re: How to get middle school students talking.
1. When students try to give one word answers, probe them for more information. For example: T: What is this? S: Living room. T: living room, what? Where?
At first, the student will probably point or give another one-word answer. If they point...pretend not to understand until they answer the question in words. If they insist on giving one word answers, say the full sentence and make them repeat after you and say it again on their own in response to the question. It is very time consuming, but they will get the idea.
2. Regarding student questions in the classroom. I have made slips of paper with questions commonly used in the classroom. (The students have already learned the question words and the structure of most of the questions). I am going to pass them out at the beginning of class. The person who has a question must try to use it at some point during the class. Also, along with giving them the questions to ask, I am keeping track of how many times questions words are used (of course in English) in class. If they use each question word a specific number of times, they will get a prize.
I hope that all makes sense and hope that some of it helps.  |