STCrowley
Member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2009
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- Germany
I have a bit of an unusual challenge now in two of my classrooms. I teach German adults, and they tend to be a bit shy about making mistakes in the classroom. Particularly in front of their co-workers. So, I work hard to create an atmosphere where it's okay to have fun with the language and make an occasional mistake. (Sometimes more than occasionally.)
Here's the thing: I guess I've had uneven success. I have two groups in which one of the students is just naturally much more gregarious than the others, and so these students are the first to answer any open question, and they feel free to jump into conversations between other students.
Actually, I don't want to shut these students up. Ideally, I'd like to bring the others up to a 'competitive' level of communication, because I sense that's how they speak in German.
The thing is, I don't have any good ideas of how to manage student talking time without losing my 'atmosphere' and turning it into a rote exercise "What do you think, John? Susan?" The conversation shouldn't need to be mediated by me. . . I don't think.
What do you guys think?
I did a quick search of the forums before posting this, but if anyone has seen this discussed somewhere else, I'd be grateful for a link.
Thanks.
Here's the thing: I guess I've had uneven success. I have two groups in which one of the students is just naturally much more gregarious than the others, and so these students are the first to answer any open question, and they feel free to jump into conversations between other students.
Actually, I don't want to shut these students up. Ideally, I'd like to bring the others up to a 'competitive' level of communication, because I sense that's how they speak in German.
The thing is, I don't have any good ideas of how to manage student talking time without losing my 'atmosphere' and turning it into a rote exercise "What do you think, John? Susan?" The conversation shouldn't need to be mediated by me. . . I don't think.
What do you guys think?
I did a quick search of the forums before posting this, but if anyone has seen this discussed somewhere else, I'd be grateful for a link.
Thanks.