Give Them Time to Talk

One of the best ways to help your ESL students meet content and language goals is by giving them plenty of opportunities to talk. Here are some tips on creating conversation in your classroom:

• Arrange the classroom to accommodate conversation between the teacher and a small group of students on a regular and frequent schedule
• Have a clear academic goal that guides conversation with students
• Ensure that student talk occurs at higher rates than teacher talk
• Guide conversations to include students' views, judgments, and rationales, using text evidence and other substantive support
• Ensure that all students are included in the conversation according to their preferences
• Listen carefully to assess levels of students' understanding
• Assist students' learning throughout the conversation by questioning, restating, praising, encouraging.
• Guide the students to prepare a product that indicates the goal of the instructional conversation was achieved.

Source: Diaz-Rico, L.T & Weed, K.Z. (2010). The crosscultural, language, and academic developmental handbook. Allyn & Bacon: Boston.