Teaching Ideas
The Talk-box: A Five Minute EFL Activity to Promote Genuine L2 Conversations
Johannes C. Razenberg
TESOL teacher
January 2003
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Method
- First, the teacher should write down the topics in the form of one-word-headings (e.g. holidays) which will be covered
in class on the palm cards and put them in the box when students have the language needed to safely attempt the task
(Leather 2000) so that they may experience a sense of progression and attainment (Maltby, Gage & Berliner 1995; Emmitt &
Pollock 1996; Ur 1996) from being able to communicate.
In addition, get students, as the opportunities present themselves, to transfer class topics which they find interesting
onto palm cards and place them in the talk-box at the end of each class. This lessens the preparation time and allows for
the resource to be more challenging in accordance to the learning which is taking place. It also helps with student
motivation and gives them ownership over the language task (Maltby, Gage & Berliner 1995).
- To use the resource, put students in pairs or small groups and ask them to select a piece of paper from the box, and
talk about it for five minutes or more. I have found that five minutes is long enough or most lower level students to feel
a sense of achievement whereas talkative and higher level students often like to talk much longer.
Important Notes
- Don't let the students know that you are monitoring them because it destroys the task, period.
- It may take sometime to get the idea across that this is not a QA activity nor one where two people talk and everyone
listens. To ensure this doesn't happen, I strongly suggest showing a model conversation, being sure to most importantly
demonstrate interactional skills (e.g. interrupting, contributing) and communication skills (e.g. paraphrasing, active
listening) associated with English speaking cultures.
- Once students grasp the task, they often display true conversation, that is they will shift from the topic, revisit it,
use incomplete sentences, and so on. This activity is for them so let them go with the flow--just observe what happens.
Assessment
- Diagnostic observation to decide how well learning has occurred, and what language features and lexical areas need to
be revised, expanded, or introduced in future lessons.
In short, a box full of words starts students talking; it's simple and effective. I believe that the talk-box will promote
genuine L2 conversations in your classroom too.
References
Emmitt, M. & Pollock, J. 1997, Language and Learning: A Introduction for Teaching, '2nd ed.', Oxford University Press, Australia.
Leather, S. 2000, 'Safety and challenge', The ETJ Journal, Vol 1., No. 1, pp.1-3.
Macquarie University c.2002a, Sociocultural Aspects of Language Learning and Teaching, LING954 Course Book, by the
National Centre of English Language Teaching and Research, Sydney.
Macquarie University c.2002b, Linguistics and language teaching, LING951 Course Book, by the National Centre of English
Language Teaching and Research, Sydney.
Maltby, F., Gage, N.L. & Berliner, D.C. 1995, Educational Psychology: An Australian and New Zealand Perspective, John
Wiley & Sons, Brisbane.
Ur, P. 1996, A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
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