Week 14 Two ideas to improve speaking skill in class

This week we read two articles. The first one is “10 Benefits of Getting Students to Participate in Classroom Discussions” by Maryellen Weimer. The second one is “Increase Student Interaction with think pair ­shares” and circle chats" by Kristina Robertson.

What is interesting from the first article is that participation in one key or one of the most important thing for student’s success. The more they participate, the more they get interested in the topic. In fact, the role of the teacher needs to change a little bit. Teachers tend to speak the 90% of the class and students get bored since they listen the explanation or the instructions. In my opinion, teachers cannot only allow students to speak more but also encourage them to speak and practicing the language. As an example, if one students is asking for a word meaning, another student can help his/her classmate by giving the definition or giving an example to clarify that doubt. In that way, they are improving their speaking skill, so that, they will not be afraid of talking in front of anybody. On the other hand, think­-pair-­share is very useful in class because students are able to first think about the answer, and then share it with the person that is next to him/her. As a result, they are able to give a better answer because they already practiced it before. Whenever it happens, teachers must be very careful to help students or to give feedback at that moment.