TI-AIE: Classroom routines

Why talk for learning is important

Talk is a part of human development that helps us to think, learn and make sense of the world. People use language as a tool for developing reasoning, knowledge and understanding. Therefore, encouraging students to talk as part of their learning experiences will mean that their educational progress is enhanced. Talking about the ideas being learnt means that:

• those ideas are explored
• reasoning is developed and organised
• as such, students learn more.

In a classroom there are different ways to use student talk, ranging from rote repetition to higher-order discussions.

Traditionally, teacher talk was dominant and was more valued than students’ talk or knowledge. However, using talk for learning involves planning lessons so that students can talk more and learn more in a way that makes connections with their prior experience. It is much more than a question and answer session between the teacher and their students, in that the students’ own language, ideas, reasoning and interests are given more time. Most of us want to talk to someone about a difficult issue or in order to find out something, and teachers can build on this instinct with well-planned activities.

Planning talk for learning activities in the classroom

Planning talking activities is not just for literacy and vocabulary lessons; it is also part of planning mathematics and science work and other topics. It can be planned into whole class, pair or groupwork, outdoor activities, role play-based activities, writing, reading, practical investigations, and creative work.

Even young students with limited literacy and numeracy skills can demonstrate higher-order thinking skills if the task is designed to build on their prior experience and is enjoyable. For example, students can make predictions about a story, an animal or a shape from photos, drawings or real objects. Students can list suggestions and possible solutions about problems to a puppet or character in a role play.

Plan the lesson around what you want the students to learn and think about, as well as what type of talk you want students to develop. Some types of talk are exploratory, for example: ‘What could happen next?’, ‘Have we seen this before?’, ‘What could this be?’ or ‘Why do you think that is?’ Other types of talk are more analytical, for example weighing up ideas, evidence or suggestions.

Try to make it interesting, enjoyable and possible for all students to participate in dialogue. Students need to be comfortable and feel safe in expressing views and exploring ideas without fear of ridicule or being made to feel they are getting it wrong.

Building on students’ talk

Talk for learning gives teachers opportunities to:

• listen to what students say
• appreciate and build on students’ ideas
• encourage the students to take it further.

Not all responses have to be written or formally assessed, because developing ideas through talk is a valuable part of learning. You should use their experiences and ideas as much as possible to make their learning feel relevant. The best student talk is exploratory, which means that the students explore and challenge one another’s ideas so that they can become confident about their responses. Groups talking together should be encouraged not to just accept an answer, whoever gives it. You can model challenging thinking in a whole class setting through your use of probing questions like ‘Why?’, ‘How did you decide that?’ or ‘Can you see any problems with that solution?’ You can walk around the classroom listening to groups of students and extending their thinking by asking such questions.

Your students will be encouraged if their talk, ideas and experiences are valued and appreciated. Praise your students for their behaviour when talking, listening carefully, questioning one another, and learning not to interrupt. Be aware of members of the class who are marginalised and think about how you can ensure that they are included. It may take some time to establish ways of working that allow all students to participate fully.

Encourage students to ask questions themselves

Develop a climate in your classroom where good challenging questions are asked and where students’ ideas are respected and praised. Students will not ask questions if they are afraid of how they will be received or if they think their ideas are not valued. Inviting students to ask the questions encourages them to show curiosity, asks them to think in a different way about their learning and helps you to understand their point of view.

You could plan some regular group or pair work, or perhaps a ‘student question time’ so that students can raise queries or ask for clarification. You could:

• entitle a section of your lesson ‘Hands up if you have a question’
• put a student in the hot-seat and encourage the other students to question that student as if they were a character, e.g. Pythagoras or Mirabai
• play a ‘Tell Me More’ game in pairs or small groups
• give students a question grid with who/what/where/when/why questions to practise basic enquiry
• give the students some data (such as the data available from the World Data Bank, e.g. the percentage of children in full-time education or exclusive breastfeeding rates for different countries), and ask them to think of questions you could ask about this data
• design a question wall listing the students’ questions of the week.

You may be pleasantly surprised at the level of interest and thinking that you see when students are freer to ask and answer questions that come from them. As students learn how to communicate more clearly and accurately, they not only increase their oral and written vocabulary, but they also develop new knowledge and skills.

‘Do What I Say’

The teacher gives instructions orally and the students must listen and do the actions.

Start with simple instructions.

As students make progress, make the game more advanced. You can also adapt the game to different topics.

• ‘Touch your nose.’
• ‘Touch your partner’s back.’
• ‘Hold up five fingers.’
• ‘Point to someone who has long hair.’
• ‘Put your pencil on the floor.’
• ‘Put your pencil under the chair.’
• ‘If you like mangoes, clap your hands.’
• ‘If you don’t like bananas, make a face.’
• ‘If Delhi is capital of India, put up your hands.’
• ‘If plants grow with the help of sunlight, nod your head.’

Some students would copy others, of course, but the point of the game is that everyone is hearing and responding to English. As students do this, they can learn vocabulary for physical descriptions, for positions, likes and dislikes, language for specific subjects, and language for general knowledge.

When you try out this kind of activity in your classroom, make sure that you choose actions and situations appropriate for the students and their level of knowledge. You may demonstrate the actions linked to the English, especially when these are new words, or when the students are having difficulty. Give the students time to listen and respond. They do not need to produce any English – they must only show that they understand you. You and the students can mix English and home languages in the game, to encourage participation.

‘Guess Who’

Divide the class into two groups. Group 1 has to secretly think of a thing or a person; Group 2 has to ask questions to guess who or what is it. Group 1 can only answer only ‘yes’ or ‘no’. As the teacher you must help Group 2 to ask their questions. Prepare for the game in the following way:

Think of six things and people that Group 1 can choose as their secret – these can be familiar to the students, such as a chair, a table, a spoon, a tiffin box, a water bottle or a book. For people, think of professions like postman, driver, cook, teacher, doctor, nurse or policeman/woman. Then think of all the words that could be used to describe these things and people. Next, think of how questions could be asked using these words.

Let Group 1 choose one of the six things or people as their secret. Remind the students in Group 1 that women as well as men can be found in all the occupations. Here are some examples:

• For people (postman, driver, cook, teacher, doctor, nurse or policeman/woman):
  • ‘Is it a man or a woman?’
  • ‘Does the person wear a uniform?’
  • ‘Is the uniform white?’
  • ‘Does the person use chalk/a stethoscope/a thermometer/a bicycle?’
  • ‘Does the person work in a hospital/school/kitchen/police station?’
• For things (a chair, a table, a spoon, a tiffin box, a water bottle, and a book):
  • Size words: ‘Is it big? Is it small?’
  • Shape words: ‘Is it round? Is it square? Is it long?’
  • Colour words: ‘Is it white? Is it black? Is it coloured?’
  • Material words: ‘Is it made of plastic/paper/wood/leather/steel?’
  • Used-for words: ‘Is it used for writing/reading/cutting/keeping things?’
  • Location words: ‘Is it here in your bag/in this room/in school/in every house?’

Before you play the game in class, most importantly, make time for yourself to practise the words in English. If possible, play ‘Guess Who’ with a fellow teacher, as a partner.

1 ‘What Did You See?’

Stage 1: Ask one child to go out of the room, see what is happening outside, and tell the class what he saw. For instance, he might report that he saw a truck, two shops and a bicycle.

Stage 2: Now the rest of the children, preferably sitting in a circle, will ask him questions, one by one, and one question per child. For instance, a child may ask: ‘What was hanging from the bicycle’s handle?’ The reply may be: ‘A basket.’ The next question may be, ‘What colour was the basket?’

Stage 3: When one round of questioning is complete, the teacher will ask the child who has gone out: ‘Who asked the best question?’ Supposing he says, ‘Shashi asked the best question; the teacher will ask: ‘What was the question?’

Stage 4: The next round starts with Shashi. Ask her to see something that the earlier child had not seen. When she comes back, ask children to come up with new questions – not the ones they have already asked.

2 ‘Asking the Explorers’

Send a small group of children, no more than five or six, to study some specific object or place near the school or even inside the school building. For example, they may be sent to examine a cluster of trees, a tea stall, a broken bridge, or a nest. Ask them to explore it carefully and discuss among themselves everything they notice.

While the explorer group is away, tell the rest of the class about the object in some detail. For example, if the explorers have gone to examine a tea stall, tell the class about the things available at the stall, who runs it, where do the things available there come from, etc.

When the explorer group comes back, it will face questions from the class. The teacher can also have her turn. Next time, send a different group.

3 ‘Guess What I Saw’

One child goes out, stands at the door or at some distance from the class, and selects one of the hundreds of things she sees around (it could be anything – tree, leaf, squirrel, bird, wires, pole, grass, stones). When she comes back, she says just one sentence about the thing she has in mind. For example, she might say, ‘What I saw is brown.’

Now every child in the class gets one chance to ask more about the thing and guess what it was. For example, questioning may go like this:

Finally when the thing has been guessed correctly, some children may object to the answers they got for their questions. For instance, someone may point out that the colour was not brown but clay-like. In such situations, the teacher’s role is very important, as someone who can help children establish subtle distinctions between meanings.

4 ‘Doing What Was Said’

Ask children to listen and do what you tell them to do. Start with simple things to do, and ask the whole class to do them together. Examples:

Divide the class in two groups. The teacher will give instructions to the first group, and the children of this group will now give similar instructions to the second group. Gradually make your instructions more complicated, for example:

When children of one group give instructions to the other group, they need not repeat everything they have heard. Encourage them to make up new instructions.

5 ‘Comparing’

Make sets of similar-looking things, such as leaves of two or more trees, flowers of different plants, stones, pieces of paper cut in different shapes, etc.

Ask children to listen to the description you give of one of the things in a set, and on the basis of the description they must decide which one you are thinking of. Example:

After doing this activity a few times, ask children to take turns to choose and describe. Change things each time you do this activity. Identify more subtle features each time.