How to Grade Your Language in the Classroom
Don’t unconsciously sabotage your students’ learning.
They do it unconsciously, without even realising it. They do it by not monitoring their language when talking to students. Language that is;
Too difficult (too much unknown vocabulary, too colloquial, etc.)
Way too fast
Too many discourse markers (um, er, y’know, OK, etc.)
Echoing (repeating the students’ answers back to them for no reason)
I’ve observed a couple of teachers who had at least seven uses for the word ‘OK’ (start / that’s fine/ yes/no/stop/do you understand?/good).
It’s easy to fix.
Take a voice recorder into class with you (most smartphones can record a class without an issue). Record your lesson, and listen to it later. Listen to it from the point of view of one of your students.
Does it make sense? Does it even annoy you? Have you got any annoying speech habits? Use the above list as a checklist, and put yourself in the shoes of one of your students.
If you liked this article, you’ll love my books:
📝 Lesson Planning for Language Teachers - Plan better, faster, and stress-free (4.5⭐, 175 ratings).
👩🎓 Essential Classroom Management - Develop calm students and a classroom full of learning (4.5⭐, 33 ratings).
🏰 Storytelling for Language Teachers - Use the power of storytelling to transform your lessons (4.5⭐, 11 ratings).
🤖 ChatGPT for Language Teachers - A collection of AI prompts and techniques to work better, faster (4.5⭐, 10 ratings).
💭 Reflective Teaching Practice Journal - Improve your teaching in five minutes daily (4.5⭐, 16 ratings).