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Who Controls Communication?

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Interaction is crucial in a classroom, but it takes many forms. There is interaction between the teacher and students, interaction between the students and the teaching materials, silent talk that a student has internally, and… 

Model more, explain less

Imagine you are teaching a class. You have an activity you are really excited about. You know the students will be engaged, you’re sure the activity will work as long as you set it up well, as long as the students know… 

Avoid too much controlled practice

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We know that scaffolding is important. That’s providing successive levels of support to help students achieve higher levels of understanding and performance. It involves breaking a task down into parts, providing structured controlled practice, and… 

Change I to The students

Where do we put our focus when preparing a class? Do we focus on what we are going to do – planning our instructions, our comprehension checking questions (CCQs), our handouts, and other elements of… 

Communication is Unpredictable

Think about interaction in the world outside the classroom. Are you able to predict every aspect of a communicative event? OK, your schema knowledge will help you – this is the mental store you have… 

Less is More

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As language teachers, we love activities! We use them to introduce grammar, to get students speaking to each other, and for lots of other purposes. Textbooks also love activities. I have a copy of a…