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How to get learners to actively participate in class.
Prepare students to participate:
Give students a chance to prepare for class.
- Tell students what materials you will use in the next class.
- Tell students what aspect of the materials to focus on in their preparation.
- This is absolutely crucial with learners working in their second language.
Give students an outline of your class.
Put your outline on a hand-out, or write it on the board.
Naturally you and your students may wish to modify the plan during the lesson.
Things to include:
- Class activities: What you want people to DO during your lesson.
- Main points: The main points you want to make in your lesson.
- Materials: What materials you will use to illustrate your points.
Check for understanding.
Rather than asking whether people are following, have (all) students perform a task or answer a question to SHOW that they (all) understand.
Encourage students to interact with each other.
If students' attention is directed to you, they will interact with you as individuals. You will control and direct the discussion.
If students' attention is directed to each other, they will interact with each other as equal participants.
The classic way to achieve this is with pair or group learning-activities.
Have students give feedback from their learning-activities to each other. Have students work on stage 1 of an activity in small groups, then combine groups or switch members from different groups for stage 2.
- This leaves you free to move from group to group, listening, solving problems and giving feedback. Later, you can do a wrap-up with the whole class.
- The physical setup of your classroom is crucial. The best way to ensure that you are the center of attention is to stand in front of a U shaped group of seated students with a white-board behind you and a board marker in your hand.
Your knowledge and experience is vital.
As students engage with learning activities, materials, and the concepts behind your lesson, they need your guidance and feedback.
- Students need your guidance to engage with the material - to know where to start and how to proceed.
- They need you to help solve learning-task problems - to help people use their learning skills effectively.
- They need you to introduce new concepts and perspectives.
- They need you to confirm understanding and provide feedback.
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