One of the eight CL principles explained in this book is teaching cooperative skills.

The Tell Family of CL techniques offer ways to practice many of these cooperative skills. Each technique begins when one pair member tells a partner something, and the partner responds in a designated way. For example, if a pair of students (e.g., Student A and Student B) are doing Tell/Paraphrase, paraphrasing is the cooperative skill being practiced. 

After Student A tells something to Student B, B paraphrases A’s statement. Next, A checks the paraphrase for accuracy. Then, it is B’s turn to tell, and A’s turn to paraphrase. A conversational example is provided below.

Student A: “Yesterday, I didn’t go to the video arcade. Instead, I played video games at home, and I used the money I saved to donate two dollars to help hungry children.”

Student B: “You donated one dollar yesterday in aid of children without enough food. You saved the money by playing video games at home instead of paying to play at a video arcade.”

Student A: “Good paraphrase. You changed some words as well as the order of my words. Only one small mistake. I donated two dollars, not one dollar. Maybe my pronunciation was not clear. Sorry.”

Student B: “Thanks for the correction. Next time, I will take notes. It was very generous of you to make a donation.”

Many techniques in the Tell Family of CL techniques involve repair strategies, in other words, strategies we use when we do not clearly understand what someone says. Here are some examples of using the Tell Family of CL techniques to practice repair strategies. Students could:

• tell/ask for repetition
• tell/ask for spelling
• tell/ask for a greater volume
• tell/ask what a word means
• tell/ask for slower speaking.

Tell Family CL activities can also invite students to practice praising and thanking. Here are examples, based on the Tell/Paraphrase example above: “Yesterday, I didn’t go to the video arcade. Instead, I played video games at home, and I used the money I saved to donate two dollars to help hungry children.”

• Tell/Praise with Reasons – “That sounds like an excellent way to save money to help others.”
• Tell/Praise with Suggestions – “Well done. Maybe you could also save money by eating less ice cream and cake. Fruit is sweet like ice cream and cake but cheaper and healthier than junk food.”
• Tell/Thank with Praise – “Thank you so much for your generosity.”
• Tell/Thank with an Offer to Return the Favor – “Thanks. Please tell me if my friends and I can do anything to help you.”

Disagreeing politely can also be practiced via the Tell Family technique. This cooperative skill is especially useful with the CL technique of Cooperative Debate.

• Tell/Disagree with Thanks for Expressing an Opinion – “Sorry, I don’t completely agree, but thanks for sharing your opinion.”
• Tell/Disagree with Paraphrase – “I think I don’t agree, but first let me check if I understand what you said.”
• Tell/Disagree with Respect – “I respectfully disagree.”
• Tell/Disagree with Partial Agreement – “You do have a point. On the other hand, please consider. . .  .”                                                                   

Of course, paraphrasing, repairing conversational breakdowns, praising, thanking, and disagreeing politely are only a few of the many cooperative skills that students can experience using the Tell Family of CL techniques.

Reflective Break

What might be another addition to the Tell Family of CL techniques? Why would this be a useful addition?

Sample Response

Tell/Offer to Participate involves one person telling what they want to do and the other person offering to join in the activity. For example, if one person says that they want to study for a quiz, the other person could offer to study together. This addition to the Tell Family of CL techniques could be useful because it fits the spirit of cooperative learning that activities can be more enjoyable and can be done more effectively when people cooperate.