7 Techniques that Will Increase Student Talking Time – Exponentially!

Lots of ESL teachers complain that students don’t talk enough. They’re too quiet. They just sit there and don’t say anything.

There are several reasons why students are quiet, but guess what? One of them is you! 
Don’t take this the wrong way. You do a splendid job. But the more you speak, the less they speak. And you don’t want your students to come to class simply to listen to you, right? So here are 7 techniques that will help you speak less and increase student talking time like you never imagined you could.

Try These 7 Techniques to Increase Student Talking Time

1. 1

   Give them time to answer

   Is it realistic to expect every student to reply promptly and accurately? Of course not. Some students may be able to fire off a rapid response, but this is not always the case. Some students need time to understand and process what you’ve said/asked. Then, they need time to come up with the right response. So if you want to speak less and get them to speak more, you’ll have to give them those precious seconds they need. If it’s hard for you to wait, count. Five seconds. Or more if you can. It may be hard at first for you and the other students to take those few seconds of silence, but it’ll be worth it.
2. 2

   Don’t answer every single question yourself

   Have you ever stopped to think that when one student asks you a question, another student may know the answer? Try this technique: 
   S1: Why is this answer wrong? 
   T: Mmmm… (looks around the classroom or even directly at another student) 
   S2: Because “beautiful” is a long adjective and so the comparative is “more beautiful”.
   And isn’t it beautiful when your students can help each other, and you don’t have to say a single word?
3. 3

   Use pair or groupwork

   Quite often we act out role plays with another student. But if you get students into pairs for the role plays and simply walk around to assist, you will speak less, and they will speak more. The same goes forgroupwork, whether you have them do a writing task, like write a story together, or a speaking task, like a discussion.
4. 4

   Have them read/explain instructions

   If the instructions are in the coursebook or the worksheet, why must you read them out loud and explain them to the class? If they are pretty straightforward, have a student read them to the class and another explain/rephrase if someone hasn’t understood. This is also a great way to keep eager beavers happy; they get to explain something that is very clear to them, and those who need a little extra help still get the assistance they need.
5. 5

   Ask open-ended instead of yes/no questions

   If you ask students yes/no questions, that’s basically what you’ll get – a yes or a no (and the occasional “maybe”). The more questions you ask with where, why, how often, when, etc…the more they’ll have to speak. But just don’t stop at one question: 
   T: What kind of music do you listen to? 
   S1: I listen to rock music. 
   T: Why? 
   S1: Because I like it. 
   T: Where do you listen to it? 
   S1: I listen to it everywhere: at home, on the bus, on my way to school… 
   T: (asks S2) How about you, Tommy?
   And Tommy should have a pretty good idea of what he can say about his music preferences.
6. 6

   Say only what is necessary

   Don’t echo back what students say. Don’t blabber on and on about your weekend. Don’t fill the silence with useless chatter. Of course, you can have relaxed conversations with students, but save those for either the very beginning or the end of class, or what’s even better, the break. During class time, try to focus your efforts on getting them to speak.
7. 7

   Don’t tell, elicit

   When we tell students the answer, they passively receive it. They ask, “What’s this?”, and you say, “It’s a stapler”. It’s too easy for everyone, including you. If students don’t remember a word, for example, try to elicit it from them and feel free to give them clues. 
   S1: What’s this? 
   T: Oh! You mean this device we use to staple papers together? What’s this called? 
   S1: It’s a stapler.
   Much too often we tell: Remember when we talked about the different types of weather? We have cloudy, sunny, etc… Don’t tell them what they are if you’ve already seen it in class! Get them to say it!

Achieving the right balance

A special mention must be made regarding how much a student is expected to speak. I subscribe to the theory that in the case of beginners, the ratio of TTT vs. STT should be 50-50, and this percentage should progressively change till you achieve a 30% TTT vs. 70% STT. In very advanced learners, it could even reach a 10-90. You need to figure out what works for each class, but in most cases you should not be talking more than your students.

The one, simple way to get students to speak more is for us to resist the urge to speak. Why don’t teachers shut up? Sometimes it’s because we feel uncomfortable in the silence. Sometimes it’s because we quite simply like to talk, and we enjoy the chatter. But leave the chatter for the teacher’s room.

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10 Teacher Tested Tricks to Teach Modal Verbs

Teaching modal verbs can be a challenge, especially to beginning teachers who don’t have enough experience.

Before teaching them, however, be sure to know what a modal verb is. It is a verb that cannot work without another verb. These include can, will, must, ought to,may, would, could, should and shall. It can be tricky when attempting to get the message of these particular verbs across to the student, so it is important to plan the class carefully. Always remember that it is important to keep the students engaged. They need to be able to keep focus (since grammar, for the most part, isn’t considered to be fun for most students). Learning intricate rules can be boring and time consuming for many, so a lot of teachers tend to disregard this method of teaching. Of course, in some cases, it might be easier to explain how something works grammatically and then give an example. There is are many possible options available, and it is also important for the teachers themselves to remember that with a little bit of imagination, any activity can be made to serve a purpose.

10 Tricks That Will Help You Teach Modal Verbs

1. 1
   Encourage Use of Modals
   Getting the students to use modal verbs in speech shouldn’t be too difficult. Pose various questions such as, “What will you do tonight?” The student will then be likely to answer with, “I will watch TV.” Retort with, “What should you do tonight?” The appropriate answer should then be, “I should do my homework.” Simple questions like this will allow the students to use them more and get them into their heads more easily.
2. 2
   Point Out Mistakes
   When speaking or writing, it is always important to point out mistakes. For small ones, this is easy to forget. Particularly for beginner teachers, one might not want to do this for a number of reasons. Perhaps they feel bad about constantly interrupting the student when he or she is speaking. Regardless, it is important to make sure that they are aware of where they went wrong in order for them to improve. See our other article ‘5 Non-Verbal Ways to Do Error Correction’.
3. 3
   Practice and Repeat
   When it comes to language learning, repetition is definitely the key. Telling a story or reading an article will probably help in this regard. Post questions as to why a specific modal goes in one place, rather than another. This will get them thinking about the logic that goes with it.
4. 4
   Fill in the Blanks Exercise
   Often a very simple way of teaching any form of grammar structure. The students will then have to think about why a specific verb goes in certain places. Try and get them to construct their own sentencesas well.
5. 5
   Advice Column
   This can be a very effective method. Try and print off articles from the Internet which come from magazine advice columns and agony aunt pages. By reading this, one will be able to highlight the importance of modals and point out where they are used most frequently.
6. 6
   Tell a Story
   Another great method is in the art of storytelling. Allow the students to make up their own story. Get them to put the character in specific situations, whereby they will have a choice between, for example, what they should do and what they can’t do.
7. 7
   Travel Tips
   Another exercise would be to read an article or travel document about a specific area. This will often be filled with plenty of modals for students to practice on.
8. 8
   Asking for Directions Role Play
   A directions role play often helps. When the students are proficient enough, get them to construct their own using the modals. This will give them a chance to show off their production skills.
9. 9
   Conclusions
   Putting a sentence on the board, such as, “Larry walked into the warehouse and found a dead body.” Get the students to find a conclusion e.g.: “There might have been a killer on the loose.” “Someone may have had an accident.” Etc.
10. 10
    Songs
    Song is of course another great way of teaching language. Have a look for some catchy tunes on the Net, as there are plenty that are rife with modal verbs. Teaching them to students will add a little bit of fun to the class and allow them to practice using the modals as well! See our section ‘ESL Songs For Teaching English’ for some ideas.

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Using have to, supposed to, and ought to

Using have to, supposed to, and ought to

Have to is the same as must. It implies that you don't have a choice.

John has to go to work everyday.
The students have to study tonight.

To be supposed to means an obligation. It is something that you should do, or something that another person expects you to do. Don't forget to use the verb be in front of supposed to.

Sally is supposed to meet her friend tonight.
All of the employees are supposed to attend today's meeting.

Ought to means a suggestion. You should do something but you don't have to do it.

We ought to clean the house tonight.
Phillip ought to help you with your homework.

(Notice that all of these words are modals. They are followed by a verb.)

***

You may feel confused about the slight differences between these words. Just think about what the speaker is implying.

I have to do my homework. (If I don't, will be in trouble.)
I am supposed to do my homework. (If I don't, my teacher will notice that I didn't do it.)
I ought to do my homework. (I don't have to if I don't want to, but I feel I should do it because I want to do well in the class.)

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Phrasal Verbs with Get

Phrasal Verbs with Get

 get out- leave or move. I don't want you here. Get out of my way!get over (something)- stop thinking about something. I can't get over how hard that test was.
get away with (something)- do something wrong without punishment. The bank robbers got away with robbing the bank. The police never found them.
get on with (something)- continue with something. Listen everyone, it's time to stop talking and get on with our class.
get around- way to go places. I get around by bicycle, but my brother gets around on foot.
get around to (something)- finally do something. I finally got around to doing my homework. I didn't do it for several days.
get along with- be friendly with. My neighbor and I get along very well. We talk everyday.
get by- have enough to survive. I have enough money to get by until next week.get down to- become serious about. Dinner is finished and now it's time to get down to business.

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Phrasal Verbs using Do

 do up- make something look good. Melissa did up her makeup before she went to the dance.
do (something) over- do again. You didn't get a good grade on the homework assignment. You need to do it over.
do (someone) in- kill someone (real or imaginary). The robbers tried to steal my money and then do me in.
do (someone) good- be good for someone. I know you don't want to learn Latin, but it will do you good in the future.
do without (something)- live without something. We didn't bring enough money to the store so we are going to have to do without the snacks.
do away with- stop having something. The school is going to do away with uniforms. Nobody likes them.
do well for (oneself)- become successful. Danny has really done well for himself. He owns 5 restaurants.

Check Your UnderstandingChoose the best answer.1. If you don't do your work right the first time, you have to           ___________         done well for         did away with         do without         do him good         did him in          do it over         did up          .
         Check your answer         do it over          
2. The mafia          ___________         done well for         did away with          do without         do him good         did him in         do it over         did up          after he told the police about their plans.
         Check your answer         did him in         
3. My wife really           ___________         done well for         did away with         do without         do him good         did him in          do it over         did up          the new bedroom. Before it was kind of ugly, but now it's beautiful!
         Check your answer          did up         

4. When you go camping in the woods you have to          ___________         done well for          did away with         do without         do him good         did him in         do it over         did up           electricity.
         Check your answer         do without         

5. Sally started her own business and now makes a lot of money. She has really           ___________         done well for         did away with         do without         do him good         did him in          do it over         did up          herself.
         Check your answer         done well for          

6. My company          ___________         done well for         did away with          do without         do him good         did him in         do it over         did up          a lot of paperwork when they realized it wasn't helpful for business.
         Check your answer         did away with         

7. He's been pretty lazy lately. A little exercise will           ___________         done well for         did away with         do without         do him good         did him in          do it over         did up         . He'll feel a lot better later.

         Check your answer         do him good          

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Have you ever...?

Ever means from the time you were born until now. Except for rare exceptions, it can only be used in questions and to answers with a no.It is used with have or had + a past participle.
Example:

Have you ever eaten a frog?
Has she ever gone to Australia?

When you answer the question, a yes answer will use have/has + past participle.

Have you ever seen a whale?

Answer:

Yes, I have seen a whale. or Yes, I have.

If you answer the question with a no, you will need to use

haven't /hasn't + ever + past participle or
have /has + never + past participle
(both of these have the same meaning)

Example:

Have you ever seen a whale?

Answer:

No, I haven't ever seen a whale. or 
No, I've never seen a whale. or 
No, I haven't.

Check Your UnderstandingCreate the sentences using ever, then answer the question (write only one possible answer.)

Example:

Susan/wear/cowboy hat
Has Susan ever worn a cowboy hat?
Yes, she has worn a cowboy hat.Yes, she has.

1. you/go/camping

         Answer         Have you ever gone camping?          

No, 
         Possible Answers         No, I haven't ever gone camping.         No, I've never gone camping.         No, I haven't.          

2. she/make/bread

         Answer         Has she ever made bread?          

Yes, 
         Possible Answers         Yes, she has made bread.         Yes, she has.          

3. Lisa and Tom/eat/Chinese food

         Answer         Have Lisa and Tom ever eaten Chinese food?          

Yes, 
         Possible Answers         Yes, they have eaten Chinese food.         Yes, they have.          

4. you/forget/Mike's birthday

         Answer         Have you ever forgotten Mike's birthday?         

No, 
         Possible Answers         No, I haven't ever forgotten Mike's birthday.         No, I've never forgotten Mike's birthday.         No, I haven't.          

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More on using 'The'

Here is a little more specific information on how to use The.

Use the after you have talked about it the first time. For example:

This is a cat. The cat is brown

Use the when the person you are talking to already knows what you are talking about. For example:

I am going to the bank.
There is someone knocking at the door. It must be the computer repairman. I called him to come help fix my computer.

Use the when you talk about general places in nature like the lake, the mountains, the ocean, the beach, etc. For example:

Let's go to the beach.
I love to camp in the mountains.

Use the when you are talking about something that there is only one of and everyone knows about it. The sky, the earth, the stars (as a group). For example:

How many people are there on the earth?
The sky is so beautiful today.

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Higher Levels of Learning

*How to produce big gains in your student learning

While preparing to teach, or throughout the semester, ask yourself what am I doing to encourage my students to:

• learn how to learn
• be motivated
• help them change their values
• learn how to interact better with other people
• integrate concepts that they are learning with other concepts, other courses, their lives, future careers, etc.
• apply their skills to new situations, as well as develop their knowledge

Remember developing knowledge is not the only aspect of getting a university degree
(Taken from Fink's Taxonomy of Higher Learning)

*Helping student to accept that there is more than one right answer

I have heard many faculty say that our students have difficulty accepting that there might be more than one right answer or no right answer. Here's an in-class way to help them:

1. Ask students for more answers after one has been given, when several possibilities exist
2. When you ask a question say, I am looking for three or more possible answers, meanings, results, interpretations, etc. 

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*Enhancing Learning

Learning is enhanced if students are asked to do the following:

1. Use their own words to restate material they learned
2. generate their own examples
3. recognize it in different contexts and formats
4. make connections between what they just learned and other facts or ideas previously learned
5. apply it in different ways
6. anticipate some of its consequences
7. state it in its opposite or converse 

Planning Lectures





First consider what you are trying to accomplish. Lectures are best for the following:




- to pique student curiosity, motivate to learn if instructor's style is very expressive

- to model an approach to solving problems or thinking style

- to give background knowledge/summary that might not be available or as integrated

- to help students learn very sophisticated material for which resources are not available at their level

- to present an organization, structure to help learn material

- to add personal viewpoint, insights into material

- to present up-to date material that is not available elsewhere
If your purpose is > 1 of the above, then consider giving a lecture. If not, consider other student-active teaching formats. If you are planning to cover material in the textbook or other course materials, lecturing may not improve the students' understanding. Once students learn that you are duplicating what is in the textbook they will choose to do either come to class or read the book few will choose to do both.
If you decide to lecture - follow these steps:

prepare class objectives
whenever possible limit class of 50 minutes to 1 major topic
plan an overview of the lecture - time content schedule
try to avoid the 2 most common mistakes of lectures - covering too much material and delivering the material too fast
divide the major topics into 10-15 minute chunks
plan student-active activities between the lecture chunks
plan the internal organization of the lecture:
Introduction
the body
the conclusion
develop appropriate visuals
think about illustrating abstract concept and relations and examples

prepare easy to follow at a glance lecture notes, graphic notes may be fine
notes should be sketchy as you know the material
key concepts to cover do not write out notes
put directions to yourself in notes - ask students to do ___, write on board ____,etc.

*Increasing your student's understanding

A goal of higher education is to increase our student's deep learning. Deep learning is learning for understanding and not just memory. Deep approaches to learning are involve integrative processes where students actively synthesize and connect material to existing knowledge:

Four key ways to increase deep learning are:

1. Assignments should motivate students to learn
2. Teaching and learning activities should build on a carefully structured, integrated knowledge base
3. Use active student learning and involvement as much as possible
4. Maximize the learning interactions among students 

*Making lectures more meaningful learning experiences

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Modal verbs

The modal verbs are:

can	could
may	might
shall	should
will	would

We use modals verbs to show if we believe something is certain, probable or possible (or not). We also use modals to do things like talking about ability, asking permission making requests and offers, and so on.

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can or could

Possibility

We use the modal can to make general statements about what is possible:

It can be very cold in winter. (= It is sometimes very cold in winter)You can easily lose your way in the dark. (= People often lose their way in the dark)

We use could as the past tense of can:

It could be very cold in winter. (=Sometimes it was very cold in winter.)
You could lose your way in the dark. (=People often lost their way in the dark)

We use could to show that something is possible in the future, but not certain:

If we don’t hurry we could be late. (=Perhaps/Maybe we will be late)

We use could have to show that something is/was possible now or at some time in the past:

It’s ten o’clock. They could have arrived now.
They could have arrived hours ago.

Impossibility:

We use the negative can’t or cannot to show that something is impossible:

That can’t be true.
You cannot be serious.

We use couldn’t/could not to talk about the past:

We knew it could not be true.
He was obviously joking. He could not be serious.

Ability:

We use can to talk about someone’s skill or general abilities:

She can speak several languages.
He can swim like a fish.
They can’t dance very well.

We use can to talk about the ability to do something at a given time in the present or future:

You can make a lot of money if you are lucky.
Help. I can’t breathe.
They can run but they can’t hide.

We use could to talk about past time:

She could speak several languages.
They couldn’t dance very well.

Permission:

We use can to ask for permission to do something:

Can I ask a question, please?
Can we go home now?

could is more formal and polite than can:

Could I ask a question please?
Could we go home now?

We use can to give permission:

You can go home now if you like.
You can borrow my pen if you like.

We use can to say that someone has permission to do something:

We can go out whenever we want.
Students can travel free.

Instructions and requests:

We use could you and as a polite way of telling or asking someone to do something:

Could you take a message please?
Could I have my bill please?

can is less polite:

Can you take a message please?

Offers and invitations:

We use can I … to make offers:

Can I help you?
Can I do that for you?

We sometimes say I can ... or I could ... to make an offer:

I can do that for you if you like.
I can give you a lift to the station.

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talking about the past

1 Talking about past events and situations:

We use the past simple:

• when we are talking about an event that happened at a particular time in the past

We arrived home before dark
The film started at seven thirty.

• when we are talking about something that continued for some time in the past

Everybody worked hard through the winter.
We stayed with our friends in London.

When we are talking about something that happened several times in the past we use

• the past simple:

Most evenings we stayed at home and watched DVDs.
Sometimes they went out for a meal.

• … or used to

Most evenings we used to stay at home and watch DVDs.
We used to go for a swim every morning.

• ... or would

Most evenings he would take the dog for a walk.
They would often visit friends in Europe.

WARNING: We do not normally use would with stative verbs.

We use the past continuous:

• when we are talking about something which happened before and after a given time in the past

It was just after ten. I was watching the news on TV.
At half-time we were losing 1-0.

• when we are talking about something happening before and after another action in the past:

He broke his leg when he was playing rugby.
She saw Jim as he was driving away.

2 The past in the past

When we are looking back from a point in the past to something earlier in the past we use the past perfect:

Helen suddenly remembered she had left her keys in the car.
When we had done all our shopping we caught the bus home.
They wanted to buy a new computer, but they hadn’t saved enough money.
They would have bought a new computer if they had saved enough money.

3 The past and the present:

We use the present perfect:

• when we are talking about the effects in the present of something that happened in the past:

I can’t open the door. I’ve left my keys in the car.
Jenny has found a new job. She works in a supermarket now.

• When we are talking about something that started in the past and still goes on:

We have lived here since 2007. (and we still live here)
I have been working at the university for over ten years.

4 The future in the past

When we talk about the future from a time in the past we use:

• would as the past tense of will

He thought he would buy one the next day.
Everyone was excited. The party would be fun.

• was/were going to

John was going to drive and Mary was going to follow on her bicycle.
It was Friday. We were going to set off the next day.

• the past continuous:

It was September. Mary was starting school the next week.
We were very busy. The shop was opening in two weeks time.

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-ing forms

We can use the -ing form of the verb:

• as a noun:

I love swimming.
Swimming is very good for your health.
You can get fit by swimming regularly.

-ing nouns are nearly always uncount nouns

• as an adjective:

The main problem today is rising prices.
That programme was really boring.
He saw a woman lying on the floor.

Because the -ing noun or adjective is formed from a verb it can have any of the patterns which follow a verb, for example:

• ... an object:

I like playing tennis.
I saw a dog chasing a cat.

• ... or an adverbial:

You can earn a lot of money by working hard.
There were several people waiting for the bus.

• ... or a clause:

I heard someone saying that.

The -ing noun can be used:

• as the subject of a verb:

Learning English is not easy.

• as the object of a verb:

We enjoy learning English.

Common verbs followed by an -ing object are:

admit	like	hate	start	avoid
suggest	enjoy	dislike	begin	finish

• as the object of a preposition

Some people are not interested in learning English.

The -ing adjective can come:

• in front of a noun:

I read an interesting article in the newspaper today.
We saw a really exciting match on Sunday.

 The commonest –ing adjectives used in front of the noun are

amusing	interesting	worrying	shocking	disappointing
boring	surprising	exciting	terrifying	frightening
tiring	annoying

• after a noun:

Who is that man standing over there?
The boy talking to Angela is her younger brother.

• and especially after verbs like see, watch, hear, smell etc.

I heard someone playing the piano.
I can smell something burning.

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