Deep dive – Communicative tasks (topic TBC)

at the moment. Um, we asked the community um what kind of area of communicative tasks um they would like us to focus on and most people suggested um talking about um shy learners cuz it's a it's a problem that that we have I've had before. Um have you had any um shy learners in your in your class, Zena? >> In every classroom. They're always there. >> Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Okay, so let's think about this this topic and and ways that we can support shy learners. So, um for you, Zena, why are communicative tasks challenging for shy learners? >> Well, there are many reasons, obviously. Um and I think, you know, most teachers are aware of some of these reasons. And I think probably the um the main reason is that students usually are worried or afraid of making mistakes um or being corrected in front of everyone and then possibly being judged by their classmates or sometimes even being bullied by some of the classmates. Um and I think in a lot of situations, a lot of students actually know the answer but they just don't have the confidence to say the answer. Or sometimes they don't have the vocabulary to express themselves. >> [snorts] >> Um also, I think um ex- that expectation of answering immediately can be very intimidating for a lot of learners. Um I remember when you know, I was a student, there were sometimes where I was in a classroom where um there were a lot of unfamiliar faces or it was a very large classroom and if when a teacher would ask a question my first thought was not, "Oh, what's the answer to that question?" It was more, "I hope she doesn't choose me." >> [laughter] >> It can be very intimidating Uh for them. So, yeah, I think these are some of the most obvious reasons. >> Yeah, I think one thing you mentioned there was about about confidence. And I think I think that's that's a really important thing cuz I was thinking Yeah, when I've learned languages, sometimes I know the word, and but I sometimes have this block where I I feel I can't say it because I don't know how someone's going to react to it. And and you need to actually say it to get the positive feedback loop of somebody kind of understanding and saying, "Oh, right, I understand you." And then that needs to be reinforced, but sometimes making that that little jump to actually using a word um in English or foreign language can be quite hard. And even if you're sure that you know what it is is right, you don't know how someone's going to react to it. And I think that that could definitely be a big problem. Um I think something else as well is sometimes if a student's quiet, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're shy. Um and I think that's that's one thing to think about as well because maybe maybe the learner is confident, but in a different way to how we would like them to be confident. So, maybe they they they're good at reading or they're good at um uh writing or something like that. And maybe what we need to do is maybe look at different ways that we can get something out of our learners rather than like you said, just ask expecting, "Okay, let's walk into a craft classroom, ask a question, and expecting the the learners to respond." Um we were talking about this yesterday, um weren't we, about how maybe sometimes as teachers we go into the classroom, we ask a question, we expect an answer. But the learners have been doing something else. They've been learning geography or they've been learning history or something like that. And they come into the class class. Yeah, exactly. And the shift can be it can take a moment like for them to kind of get into that kind of English frame of mind. So, maybe thinking about the way that we structure our lessons so that they have time to kind of ease into the use of English. So, kind of doing receptive activities at the start of the class that don't demand as much of the learners can be important. >> Yes, that's a very good point. Um I I want to go back to your point about quiet and shy learners. And I think it's important that a teacher can differentiate between the two. Um you mentioned that you know some students are quiet, but they're not necessarily shy. Um so, if you ask them, they'll be they will happily and confidently answer and usually they will give you the the correct answer. It's just their personality, they're not very dominating, uh they're not the type to speak up. So, once you're able to tell the difference between a quiet student who will happily give you the answer and a shy student, you would know how to deal with each student um in the in the different situations in your classroom. >> Mhm. So, if for example, let's say we're doing an open class activity, um I'd presume like with a quiet student you can call on that student to answer a question and they're more likely to answer. So, how would you deal with a shy student? Let's say I don't know. Um we've talked in recent events about kind of introducing language systems and grammar and and functions. And let's say you're checking some grammar with a learner. So, with a quiet learner you can call out call them out. Yeah, you can just say, "Okay, what's the answer to this kind of concept checking question or something?" What would you do with a shy learner in that situation, Zainab? >> Um well, with with shy learners, I mean generally it's important for all tasks. I mean, not just for specific task. I think it's important that um they feel safe in the environment that they're in. So, creating that safe environment where um they feel that the mistakes or giving incorrect answers is a normal part of the learning process. So, when they do give their answers, they're not going to feel judged or they don't feel embarrassed. So, once you create that environment, you can easily build up you know, the the challenge that they face and they will become more open to um speaking up in class. Obviously, there's a lot of other I you know, strategies you can use with um with shy students. And I think one of the most the most obvious is is pair work. Mhm. You know, putting students in pairs um always works because they they don't feel that fear of speaking up in front of everyone. It's just with one other person. Or if they're in groups, it's just a few other people. And then there's that support from the other students. They're not um answering or completing the task on their own. They have that support from the other students. Um so, I think yeah, the most obvious one would be uh pair work. Um but I think you have to be also very careful with how you pair them. Um you need to make sure that you pair them with a student they feel comfortable with. Um pairing them with the wrong uh classmate can just completely shut them down. Um and I have a I have a good example for this. Um a while back I taught um a group of adult learners. And I think they were about maybe almost 20 students in the classroom. And they were all male except for one female. Mhm. And she only felt comfortable working with one of the males. Um I think he was a colleague of hers, so they worked together at the same company. And if I tried putting her with a different pair, she would just sit there and not say anything, um not work, not do any of not not help out in completing the task. So, throughout the course, she just worked with that one male student that she felt comfortable with. And that was fine because when she was with him, she was working. She was participating. And so, I also made sure that when I grouped them, he was with her in the group because then she would feel comfortable. So, I think it's important that you also pair them with the student that they feel comfortable with. >> No, I think that's a really really good point. And I think one thing to think about is sometimes we think, "Okay, so this learner is shy, but I know that this learner likes this other learner and they're friends, so let's put them together." But sometimes that doesn't always work. Like sometimes they might feel more comfortable, but sometimes they're even more embarrassed to to speak in a foreign language with their friend because they think it's silly or something like that. So, you need to kind of think, "Okay, are they going to work with that friend? Or do I need to put them with somebody completely different?" Because sometimes you can feel more confident with somebody that you don't know, um rather than with with somebody you do know, who has kind of expectations or they know lots about you. Um and also that kind of distance, like being with somebody who's not your close friend, can actually encourage you to speak more because you don't know anything about them as well. Like um so, you need to find out about them. So, I think, yeah, that's a really really interesting question. >> Yeah. >> Really really interesting thing to think about. Um but yeah, and the dynamics, like you said, with like your your students, like one of them, she would work with one guy, but not with other people. And like >> Yeah. >> it's important to think about that and accommodate um the learner. >> Because she wouldn't benefit if I put her with someone else in the The point is you want her to gain something from the class. >> Yeah, exactly, exactly. Um we've got some questions actually that have come in come in Zainab, obviously related to the topic. Um um there's a question from Jordan. Um so hello um everybody in Jordan who's watching. Um the question is I teach grade 10 English and often notice my shy students um struggle with with pair work. What strategies do you recommend for gradually building their confidence? So that kind of links to what we were talking about. >> Yeah. >> So what would >> That's a very good question. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. I think with pair work it's um important that when you do pair them, you want to make sure that you at the same time um give them time to think about their ideas before you pair them. So think, pair, share, I think works really well in situations where you're going to put them in pairs. Um first of all, give them time to think. Give them time to think of their ideas. I mean, even us as native speakers, if you're going to ask someone to talk about something, even though we have the language, we might not have the ideas yet. You know, we need to actually think about the ideas before we can produce anything. So imagine if you don't have the language or the ideas, it's going to be frustrating for the students. So it is important to give them time to think. Um you know, have them make some notes, and then maybe they can share with a partner, um and then maybe a larger group. Um for further support, you can give them uh sentence starters on the board. So for example, if you want them to talk about their weekend, you can have some sentences on the board like the best part of my weekend, I spent time with um you know, um yesterday I and then they would be able to complete those sentences. It would make it a little bit easier. It gives them a bit more structure. It's a little bit more um oh okay, um I know what to say here, you know, once they've got the beginning of the sentence. Um so I think maybe giving them that time to think first and then maybe just providing them with some structure um once you pair them they will have had, you know, an um a time to think of some ideas and then at the same time they also have some, you know, vocabulary or structure to help them uh produce the language that you want them to produce. >> Yeah, I think that the kind of sentence stems that you were talking about on the board, they definitely help cuz the learners can look at them. Um I think that's obviously part of scaffolding and I think like I think one thing to think about is obviously the stages that you go through to to the point where they are using those sentence stems. So, I think one thing to remember with with that kind of building confidence, if they have sentences like I spent my weekend with >> Mhm. >> they need the vocabulary of different people. So, before you get to those sentence stems, you need to have stages where they think of language that they might need. So, it could be activities from the weekend or people from the weekend um or I don't know who they ate from the weekend. And this needs there needs to be some kind of activity where the learners think of these ideas first, maybe kind of brainstormed storming activity or activity where they do like a board rush and write these words on the board. Um so, that it's all there for the learners before they start using the sentence stems, which you can add afterwards. And I think another thing to think about is before you get to the sentence stems cuz um the the question was about kind of gradually building confidence. And I think one thing to remember is is sometimes, like we mentioned at the start of of the discussion we can go in and ask a question. That could be quite hard to respond to. >> Yeah. >> But giving them the chance to just say like one word um or like a couple of words like a collocation, it doesn't have to be like something completely meaningful. You can make it fun. Like maybe let's say you've got all those those food words, those people words, and those activity words on the board, you could do a kind of activity where like 20 questions where you say, "Okay, I have one of the words in my head. Which word is it?" And then the students can just say the words, and then their partner just says, "Okay, yes, it's that one." Um it can just be a very simple activity like that, just so they build just using one word, and then you introduce the stems that you mentioned. So, yeah, I think I >> Mhm. >> Yeah, no, that's a very good point. I do I mean I mean I think especially with shy learners, um whatever little they produce, um should also be praised. >> Yes. >> Um you know, whatever answer they give you, even if it's not correct, the feedback we give them should sound something like, "Oh, that's very close." Or, "Thank you for sharing, but that's not quite right. I'm looking for a different word." So, just whatever they produce, praise, motivate, so that they continue to produce it. It's so difficult for them to build that confidence to even say that one word sometimes, that you don't want to shut it down. So, you want to make sure that you are constant you know, whatever they produce is fine. You know, be happy with whatever they give you, and then just make sure that you praise whatever efforts they they they gave for that task. So, that it keeps like it's gradually building their confidence this way. >> Yeah, exactly. And and you can break it down into smaller smaller bits as well. I was actually suddenly thinking what my daughter sometimes has to do presentations in class. She hates it. Like she she's really really scared. She doesn't want to to kind of speak in front of other people. Um so, what I've done with her in the past is just sit with her one-to-one, and kind of like get her to kind of rehearse and go through and think about what she's going to say um each step, and that's what you can do in the pair work that you mentioned, Zainab. Like, if it's with somebody they they comfortable with, they can practice and practice and practice. Um so that yeah, like and giving the positive feedback while you do it. That's really good point. Um there was a question actually which I thought was quite it's it's related to it cuz I think it's it's but it's a question I've I've heard in the community quite a few times about um how can we adapt communicative tasks for large classes while ensuring every learner has a chance to participate um and speak. And yeah, this obviously includes shy learners. Um so what do you do to do this um Zainab? >> Well, the fact that it's a large class and you want to give everyone a chance to participate. The only way that's going to work is if you put them in in groups and you have them work together. Um because we know with the very limited time you have in the classroom, there's no way you can listen to everyone participate. So, you know, you're going to have to put them in groups or put them in um pairs. But again, you have to think about how you want to pair them and how you want to group them. So, because you're you know, you they could be um at different levels and you might want to put them in you know, according to their level. Um also, you might have as in as they're mentioned here that you know, how do we adapt it for the shy learners as well. Um you have to think about who you're going to pair them with and which group you're going to put them in. I think random grouping and random pairing does work in many situations. However, if you have shy students, you need to think about where you want to put them. So, you can make it seem random but you you're actually play will support them. You know they will feel comfortable with so that they are able to speak. And then obviously, you know, you need to give them that support as well. I think the support that goes around the task is just as important as the task itself. Um you want to make sure that your instructions are very clear. You give them the language that they can use. Um you know, they're they're sitting with someone they feel comfortable with. Um so, you want to ensure that you they have that support before you actually give them the task. >> Mhm. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely. That's definitely true. Um there were some comments related to this actually. Um and it goes back to for example the the pairing that you mentioned um Zainab. So, someone's saying sometimes pairing a shy student or shy learner with an extrovert works with my class uh as one pushes the other and they end up encouraged to perform together. Um so, they they are not a weak pair. Um I think Yeah, yeah, I think that can that can happen. It can work definitely. Um um and another one here from the the Facebook community is one strategy that works well for shy learners is starting with pair work before asking them to speak in front of the whole class. Um I mean, yes, that's definitely true like cuz they get to rehearse, they get to kind of practice. Um I'm I'm very cautious about getting learners to perform in front of um the whole class. I I don't know about you Zainab. How how do you feel about that? Um usually they're in pairs or groups. If anyone is going to perform in front of the class, it's usually somebody who feels confident enough to do that. So, it's usually a volunteer and not a nominated random student. So, um yeah, it's someone who I'll be like, "Is there anybody who would like to come up and, you know, demonstrate or or speak about what what you just discussed?" I usually allow, you know, volunteer students to do that. So, I wouldn't just pick on a a shy student um to to speak in front of the whole class, when I know they're not comfortable doing that. >> Yeah. Yeah. And there's another comment as well, which I think is quite a nice one. Um cuz it it talks about different kinds of activities. Um it's from the Facebook um community and and someone has mentioned, I think shy people s feel safe singing in a group. I use it and it works every time. Um yeah, I think I think kind of choral stuff, like choral pronunciation kind of activities. Um or group activities. And singing's quite nice, actually, cuz it can kind of relax learners if they're shy and they can come out of themselves um a little bit as well. So, I think that's a really good a really good point. Um >> And it allows everyone to participate. They get that pronunciation practice and then they they feel like they're you know, participating, they're doing something. Um and and it's fun. Students enjoy singing. Um I wouldn't sing in front of everyone alone, but I would do it there were many other people singing with me. >> Yes, exactly. Um and there was one thing that I I thought about and I don't know what you think about this. I mean, sometimes you can get shy learners who just won't won't speak, no matter how much you kind of work with them. Um would what would you recommend in in that kind of situation? Like you've talked to them, you've kind of tried different activities, like pair work and and and scaffolding and things. >> Yes, I have some students like that where even in pairs and groups, they're still not talking. What I usually do with those students is I have like some kind of one-to-one to them while I'm monitoring. >> Mhm. >> So, I'll I'll I'll notice they're not participating even though they're with someone who they're comfortable with, there's a lot of support. I will just, you know, come close to them and I'll ask them some questions. I'll ask them to discuss something. Usually they do. They're happy to tell you or to answer to the teacher when, you know, it's just you and the student. Um and I don't ask them to come up to my desk. I just go up to them and I'll be like, "Oh, you know, what's your answer to this one? Or what do you think about this? Or can you tell me about this?" Usually they'll answer, maybe not, you know, they won't elaborate or give you a very long answer, but they will say something. So, I think, you know, going up to them and having that one-to-one can help. And I think that also can gradually build up to having them start working in pairs, maybe giving answers to their partner. And then they could, you know, slowly gain the confidence. >> Yeah, I think that's good cuz you're you're not putting the pressure on them to come to you. You're going to them, which makes them feel more comfortable. And I think one thing that also to think about is is the way you position yourselves when when your learners are shy. So, if you've like you said, Zainab, if you're going up to someone, um it's good that you don't kind of loom over them and kind of stand over them. Like it's you have to kind of come down to their level. Um was one thing I was always told um when I was first learning teaching was about squatting. So, you're at kind of you're either at the learner's level or a little bit below. Um and I think that's actually important cuz it means that they are kind of above you and they are kind of maybe in a kind of position of power, I don't know. Um and then they [clears throat] that helps them feel comfortable um and it helps them feel >> Also, if you they don't feel like you're targeting them, like you've just come up to them to get an answer. So, what I do is I'm usually I'm monitoring and I'll ask someone nearby so that he or she can hear that I'm, you know, asking similar questions. And then I will go up to the student and, you know, just like I'm doing it randomly. >> Mhm. >> Uh so, they don't feel like they're being targeted. Like, "Oh, okay, teacher's just monitoring and asking around. Usually they they they're happy to give at least some kind of answer. >> Okay. Yeah. So if we we've talked about kind of like how to be in the classroom, how to move around, how what kind of staging and activities. So is there another thing to think about someone's asked a question about this actually. Is what is the one communicative task you think every English teacher should try and why? And I think that kind of relates to obviously such shy learners because there's maybe there is one task that always works with shy learners. >> Yeah. I don't think there's just one. You know, also shy learners differ. So what would work with one shy learner might not work with another. But there are a number of tasks that would work well in general with shy learners. And we already spoke about pair work and think pair share. So that's that's obviously one of them. But other tasks I think would work are things like information gap activities. What's nice about information gap activities is the information is there. The The students have the information. They don't have to think of the ideas or think of what they need to say. They're just communicating the information they have and then they're working in pairs. So they're not you know, working in a group with a number of students or in front of the class. Another activity is role plays. I think some students feel more comfortable when they speak as a character rather than themselves. So if they're acting like a doctor or a shop assistant, they might feel more confident speaking than if you know, they were talking as if they were just themselves or giving information about themselves. And then obviously if you're doing role play, you want to give that support. Um maybe there's a dialogue that they're reading off of the dialogue, or you know, they have the sentence starters, and they're just completing it. Um also, um picture prompts, I think would work well because they've got the picture, they they can see everything, they just need to, you know, say what they see, or describe what they see. So, I think anything where there's clear structure, where it it's you know, what they need to talk about is uh is clear, is concrete, and there's a purpose. Um makes it easier for um shy learners to yeah, to speak up. More than, you know, more than just a discussion would, I think, might not work so well with a shy learner. >> Yeah, and I mean, you mentioned kind of role plays, and I think you can kind of lean into that a bit more. Like, for example, it might work better with with primary learners, but one one thing you can do is is masks, like creating getting the learners to make masks. >> Yes. >> Um because then they they take on the role of a particular character, or something like that, and then they they they're more willing to speak because it's not them, it's it's the character. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Yeah, and then also thinking about like um different kinds of activities, cuz learners might be shy, but if you choose the correct activity, they can suddenly come to life. So, for example, let's say um you're doing a kind of design task, maybe um some learners respond better if they're drawing, or they they cuz they want to explain the drawing that they're doing, or they are explaining something they're making physically with blocks, or something like that. Um and I think maybe trying out these different kinds of activities, you suddenly can see that the shyness disappear. Um just going back to my daughter, she's got a friend who's quite shy, but when she's building something, she talks the whole time and says what she's going to do, where she's going to do it, why she's going to do it. And I think getting those kind of and finding the activities that the learners respond to um can definitely open up shy students. >> Yeah, and I think uh playing games with with the students. Cuz, you know, if they're having fun, relaxed, and they'll be able to speak more. So, you know, even board games or even something like um a mingle activity, a find someone who um students enjoy it. So, if they're having fun, they tend to relax a bit more. Uh it's like they're playing um or it's like they're, you know, outside during break. Yeah, you know, just enjoying their time with their classmates. Um and they can open up a bit more. >> Mhm. There's actually a great comment that I just noticed um from the Facebook community where um someone's mentioned, "I have one student. She was really shy. One time I sang a song. I didn't finish the sentence of the song, and this shy student just started singing it out loud." Um and of course the lyrics are from um our vocabularies. But, I think that's a really that's a really nice way of doing it because the learner knows the answer, so they're not going to feel worried. They're not going to feel nervous. Um So, another thing you can do similar to that is with with like poems or rhyming stories where you have like little couplets, the learners can predict or they know what comes next or what word is at the end of the sentence. And then they just say it. They don't even think about it because they they know the story so well, so they just repeat it. Um and that's a lovely way to kind of get learners I mean, that includes all the things that we've talked about. It includes the scaffolding, it includes kind of doing it in a group, so they're not as kind of nervous about being kind of picked on. Um so, yeah, that's that's really great. Um >> Yeah, that's lovely. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's a really nice idea, actually. I didn't think of it. So, thank you for that. Okay, well, thank you all for your comments. I know we didn't mention everybody, but I can see there's lots of comments from YouTube and lots of comments from the Facebook community. If you have any more questions about this topic or any ideas you'd like to share like that last idea about the singing, please do come to the community and write them in the community. We'd love to hear from from all of you. Um and obviously you can do the communicative tasks course, which is running at the moment. There's a workbook associated with it where you can get different kind of activity ideas and lesson plans and things like that. So, please please do do the course and join us in the community to tell us tell us what you've learned. Um and next week there's another event. Um >> After anything about pronunciation, that will be um Christiana and I. So, Steve won't be with us next week, unfortunately. >> Yeah, I'm just taking a break, but yeah, so if you have um any questions >> in September. >> Yes, I will. I will come back in September. But, yeah, if you have any questions about teaching pronunciation that you'd like to to ask Zainab and Christiana, please come to the community and write them. Sure both of them are willing to talk about anything that you'd like to talk about or any advice that you'd like. Um So, thank you all for coming today. I've really enjoyed the session. Hopefully, it was useful for you. I'll I'll see you in a month or so and and Zainab will see you next week. >> I'll see you next week. Yeah, it was lovely to see you today. Bye-bye.