I'm not sure if any of you know this, but this last week was "Daniel Teacher's Official Sentence Week" (the beginning of many truth be told, but one must start somewhere). I wrote this on the WB and my students were asking me open display questions. S1: "Teacher, what does that mean?" T: Does anybody know? S4: "It means we have to answer in sentences." and to stay true to my IRF roots :p I offered the feedback T: S4 is a genius!!"
It was gratifying to listen to my students this week, demanding sentence answers from other teams. They expect nothing but the best (from the other teams, that is).
Writing my research paper uncovered some not so great habits that I have incorporated into my classes:
"Teachers need to be discouraged from always ‘filling in the gaps’ in the discourse of the EFL classroom. By so doing, they may be creating a smooth-flowing exchange, but reducing opportunities for interactional adjustments and learning potential."
Walsh, S. 2002 Construction or obstruction: teacher
talk and learner involvement in the EFL classroom. The Queen’s University of
Belfast. Language Teaching Research 6,1 (2002); p.20
I am a filler of gaps. I like to approach my class like a game show, and as we all know a fast game is a good game. In my haste sometimes I have prevented other students from interacting. Also in my defense, if I have already called on three people with their hands raised and I'm getting nowhere, I will interject the answer I am looking for, to the disgust of the one S who actually did know the answer. My goal is to find balance. I want my students to have a fun class, but I also want to give them opportunities to practice their L2. Time is not my friend.
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