Teaching 100 percent in the target language, even at the beginner level, is critical for students to truly achieve their language learning goals. This is an extremely important facilitation skill for foreign language teachers to learn, and although it is impossible to learn through a written article, what you can do is use the information presented here to create a complete immersion experience for your students.
For those foreign language teachers who are new to this approach, who have not experienced a complete language immersion program for yourself, or who have already started your courses using translation, start out with a smaller goal, like “today I’m going to teach 75 percent” in the target language. As you become more comfortable with this approach, you can increase your percentage over time.
Below you will find a number of tips to help you increase your use of the target language in the classroom. Remember that although this approach will be challenging, students will learn so much more in the end!
1) PREPARE YOUR STUDENTS WELL.
· Begin the course with a Language Learning Orientation. This is absolutely the most important step in the process and should be incorporated into your first day of class which should be conducted in English. Many students may have already had prior language classes where translation was used, and this definitely makes it easier for them. Students need to be told that your goal is to teach 100 percent in the target language in every class. Tell them that this approach is more challenging and tiring, so they need to be patient and work hard. Explain to them the benefits of this type of approach and how it will truly lead them to a higher proficiency level in the target language.
· Give students a list of clarification phrases to use so that they can speak as much in the target language as possible. Have a preprinted list of phrases for all student and also display the list somewhere in the classroom. Do not let students just speak in English, but have them use the questions and answers that you give them. For example, the list should contain phrases such as: I don’t understand. I don’t know. How do you say ____ in (target language)? What does ____ mean in English? Please repeat that. Please speak slower.
· Use techniques to keep students in the target language as much as possible. One fun approach is to use “A penny for your thoughts.” Be sure to explain this during the orientation. Give out three pennies to each student every class. When they are absolutely stuck and cannot express themselves in the target language, they give you a penny to speak in English. As time goes by, give them less pennies each class. Give prizes to students who are able to stay in the target language the most. For example, don’t give homework to those students who don’t speak any English in class. This is always a big motivator! Please note that if students are allowed or encouraged to use their native language in the classroom, it is difficult to break them of this habit later on. Translation then becomes a crutch for them and they will never learn the skill of negotiating meaning when speaking to a native speaker.
2) SET REALISTIC GOALS AND ALWAYS BE RECYCLING.
· Be realistic with your class objectives. If you goal is to whip through ten pages of material in the book in an hour, think again. This approach goes much slower. Remember that your class objectives should not be about getting through a book. Your objectives should be based on the performance outcomes you expect your students to achieve. For example, your objective should not be “learn the conjugations of gustar and memorize 15 sports activities.” Your objective should be “students will be able to identify the sports and say what sports they like or don’t like in Spanish.”
· When behind in your curriculum, don’t rush to catch up. Too many times we see teachers more concerned about getting through the book than ensuring students’ mastery of the course objectives. This creates a lot of undue stress on the students. Adjust your program accordingly. If course after course you cannot get through the book, then perhaps divide the book into two different courses.
· Repeat, reuse, recycle. In order to get new information to “stick,” it is extremely important to keep repeating, reusing, and recycling this information in every class. Students need to see things dozens and dozens of times in order for language learning to truly happen.
3) USE LOTS OF VISUAL INPUT.
· Make lots of use of the whiteboard. This is another “must do” in order facilitate 100 percent in the target language. In the early classes, you might have to write out everything you say on the board until students become more comfortable with the language.
· Use lots of pictures and other visual clues. Visual clues are absolutely critical to the language learning process. Use lots of pictures, body languages, gestures, mini role plays or charades to act out or model what you want students to do, etc. Also, use the whiteboard in combination with your visual clues. It will be through this use of visual clues that students will learn how to “negotiate meaning” in the target language.
· Model all new activities. In order to ensure comprehension of a new activity, make use of your stronger students to model with you what you what the class to do.
4) MODIFY YOUR TEACHER TALK AND REMEMBER THE 80:20 RULE.
· Keep your language simple. For example, if students have only learned the present tense, don’t throw the past tense at them. Other tips to keep your language simple include: use cognates whenever possible, don’t use slang, don’t use geographic-specific language, avoid idiomatic expressions (unless it is part of the lesson), use clear articulation, do not use contractions, and use extra volume.
· Modify your rate of speech. You are going to have to speak slowly and clearly at the beginner level. Over time, you can increase your rate of speech as students become more “tuned in” to the target language.
· Remember the 80:20 rule. Your ultimate goal for the course should be that your students are communicating 80 percent of the time and you are communicating 20 percent of the time. Decreasing your teacher talk is an important component of the communicative approach. Although it will be higher at first, you should focus on decreasing this as students gain more communication skills in the target language.
5) USE A VARIETY OF QUESTIONING AND CLARIFICATION TECHNIQUES.
· Use a variety of questioning techniques. Don’t just stick to the yes/no questions. Be sure to ask open-ended comprehension questions. If students are confused, write the question on the board and give some multiple choice answers for them to guess from.
· Clarify first by asking the students and then giving clues. When there is a word, phrase, or grammar point to clarify, always ask the students for the answer first. If they do not know, then give as many clues as possible to try to get them to guess. Your absolute last resort should be a “time out” in English (see number 18 for details).
· Have students look up phrases in the dictionary. You will always stumble upon a phrase that is difficult to depict visually. In this instance, instead of you giving the translation, have a student look up the phrase and say it for the class. That will help you achieve your goal of 100 percent in the target language.
· Use your stronger students to help you out. Again, instead of just translating for the class, call on students who seem to catch on quickly to see if they can explain what you are trying to communicate.
· Use frequent comprehension checks. Never assume that you are all on the same page. There will always be students who are lost, so take the time to ask them questions and keep them involved along the way.
· Get students up and moving if you see they are tired. Participation in a complete immersion program is extremely exhausting. If you see that you are losing your students, have them get up a switch partners or groups, throw out the grammar lesson and play a game, or get students up to the board for activities.
6) STAY WITH IT FOR THE LONG HAUL.
· Stick to your goal… Once you set this objective, it is critical that you stick to it. If students realize that you will easily back down and translate for them, then you will not be able to get them on track. You need to start this from the very beginning and not give up. Remind students of the benefit that they will learn to acquire the “strategic competence” needed when communicating in the target language with native speakers.
· …but use “time outs” when absolutely necessary. If you see that students are getting very frustrated, have a “time out” and clarify for them. Not all teachers can facilitate 100 percent in the target language effectively and it takes time and experience to learn. If this is a new skill for you, it might be your approach that needs modifying.
· Find a mentor. One of the best things that you can do to help build this skill is to find a mentor who is used to teaching 100 percent in the target language (an ESL instructor perhaps). Have this person observe you and give specific feedback on your delivery. Over time, this approach will become second nature to you, and you can then serve as a mentor for others.
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