Archive for October 2011
One of the greatest hindrances to ESL coaching is Teacher Talk Time (TTT). Teacher Talk Time is the amount of time that a teacher spends talking in the class. Since a tradition English class to English speaking students is often dominated by teacher explanations, many teachers think that this should also be the case in an ESL classroom. However, the opposite is true. The less a teacher talks usually the more effective the teacher will be in an ESL class.
Let’s examine how an ESL student listens to English. First, the student will hear the English. There is a mental process of translating the English into the listener’s native language. If he can translate it right, then he will understand. Then a response has to be formed. Usually the response is formed in the native language and then mentally translated into English. This ongoing process is mentally draining.
As Miriam rushed through the hangar door and whisked herself over to the operations desk she requested from the equally busy coordinator the flight itinerary/report for her trip that afternoon. She glanced at the paperwork and paused to reflect on what was ahead of her for the day and then indulged herself to look back on the events of the day earlier.
Less than three hours before, Miriam was fast asleep – the previous day was a busy one as she finished painting the bathroom and the bedroom closet of her new home and was just days from making her move from her present crowded apartment to the homey little cape that she had just bought. Jarred awake by the ringing telephone, Miriam glanced and saw that the clock read 8:11.