Introduction

How do you make sure that you are not just teaching, but that the content is being learned? How do you make sure that your classes are inclusive and comprehensible for English Language Learners? In other modules of this course we have explored ways to make curriculum and assessments inclusive and the classroom environment welcoming.

Teacher Talk and Vocabulary

Put simply, “teacher talk” is everything the instructor says in the classroom. While many times instructors will “think aloud” as they are teaching, this can cause issues for English Language Learners.

Look at the following statements and choose the one you think would be easier for an ELL to understand:

a. Alright, go ahead and grab a seat.
b. Everyone can sit down now.

a. I’m gonna go ahead and ask you to look at the next page.
b. Look at the next page.

a. The word “kindergarten” comes from German for “a garden of children.”
b. Kindergarten is school for young children. It comes before the first grade and involves art and play (Literacy Minnesota, 2012).

In each case, b is a better choice because they are straightforward, authentic, and relevant. When planning lessons, it is helpful to plan out some of the things you are planning to say in order to make sure English Language Learners can follow. While you certainly don’t have to script your lessons, it can be helpful to plan what you will say when introducing new concepts, giving instructions (more below), or using metaphors.

Tips to make lessons more comprehensible:

1. Avoid idioms. For example, instead of saying “once in a blue moon” consider saying “this rarely happens.”
2. Reinforce oral input with written input. Provide learners with slides or notes on what you are going to say in advance of the class so they can follow along.
3. Use visuals. When explaining a concept or definition, a visual can help convey an idea quickly and clearly.
4. View multi-lingual knowledge as an asset. When discussing a new word or concept, allow learners to use translation to understand. Consider having students who speak a common language explain the concept to each other using their shared language.
5. Provide a list of important vocabulary to learners in advance so they have time to look up the words or create a translation.

Teacher Talking Time (TTT)

Do you ever feel like you are talking too much in class and you wish that you could get learners to talk more? Especially in quieter classes, the instructor tends to talk more. Not all teacher talking time is bad, and of course, some is necessary! However, too much teacher talking time can make a class dull and less interactive. Reducing TTT is particularly beneficial for English Language Learners because it gives them more opportunities to practice authentic interaction with their classmates.

Strategies to reduce your TTT:

1. Time yourself. Bring a stopwatch with you to a class and start it every time you begin speaking and stop it when students are interacting. After, calculate what percentage of the class you spent speaking. There is no right or wrong answer to this, but this is an opportunity to see if your TTT is aligned with your goals for you and your students.
2. Plan more detailed lessons. If you tend to have rough outlines for lessons, you might not know how long certain explanations or activities will take. Creating a time estimate when planning will help you see what the balance of talking time is in the class.
3. Make sure to ask open-ended questions. Make sure your questions cannot be mentioned with yes or no or a single answer.
4. Give more thinking time. The average instructor does not wait very long after asking a question before continuing speaking. Giving learners more time to think before answering questions is helpful for all learners, but especially necessary for ELLs. While pausing for even 10 seconds may feel like an eternity, try to build in wait time of 20 seconds up to 2 minutes. Some other ways you can support learners in formulating answers to questions is to have them write for one minute on the topic or discuss questions with a partner before sharing with the whole class.

Chunking

Another important approach to content delivery is chunking information. Chunking simply means to break down difficult content into manageable pieces and to give learners an opportunity to process the information and apply it. This is helpful for all learners, but can help support ELLs by giving them time to process what is being said.

Strategies to chunk information:

1. Identify the learning outcomes for the class and divide up content accordingly. For each learning outcome, make sure learners have the opportunity to acquire the needed knowledge, ask questions, and apply the learning. For example, learners might listen to the instructor give a 15 minute presentation of information and then do a short application activity.
2. Chunk long or difficult pieces of text. Consider breaking up a reading into parts and looking at the concepts separately. You might ask learners to read a specific part of the text and summarize it in their own words.
3. Jigsaw activities – one way to approach chunking text is to have students read a section and become an expert on the concepts. They can then teach other students about the ideas in their section of the reading.

Delivering Oral Instructions

Instructors often build classroom work around having students perform academic tasks. In order to support all students, but especially ELLs in being successful in these tasks, you need to provide clear instructions. Oral instructions are one part of a class that you may want to script. Oral instructions can be difficult for all students to comprehend and follow. However, they can pose particular challenges for ELLs who are dealing with the greater cognitive demands of working in an additional language.

Ways to make oral instructions easier for all students to follow:

1. If you are providing a handout or other material that learners will use in an activity, wait until after you have given the instructions to distribute it. People tend to turn their attention to any materials that have been given to them immediately and are less likely to closely follow what you are saying.
2. Provide both oral and written instructions. For example, have the instructions written on the board or displayed on a screen as you given them orally.
3. Be aware of your positioning. Avoid speaking while your back is turned to learners. For example, if you need to write something on the board, try to do it before or after you say it. Being able to see your face while you speak is helpful for all learners, especially ELLs.
4. Try to centre learners in your instructions rather than the instructor. For example, instead of saying “be ready to show me your work,” consider saying “you will have a chance to share your work.”
5. Try to use asset-based language in your instructions rather than deficit-based language. For example, instead of saying “in order to get a good grade on this task you must…” consider saying “here are some things that will help your work be high-quality.”
6. Avoid describing material or activities as “easy” or “simple.” While you may think that this is reassuring to learners, it may create self-doubt in learners if they do not find the task easy.
7. Check for comprehension. Instead of saying “any questions?” ask a learner (or learners) if they can repeat the instructions.