This paper is written primarily for teachers who
have unmotivated to semi-motivated students and want
(more than anything) for their students to communicate
in English from the beginning of the lesson right
through to the end. This would typically include most
university, junior college and high school teachers
in Japan.
Your first reaction may be that this is an unrealistic
goal, one that you may have presented to your students
before, but a goal they have always failed to achieve.
You may be in a classroom situation where the students
speak 20-50% Japanese. Or your students may not speak
much at all.
Is a 100% English goal unrealistic? First let me
explain that by setting a 100% goal this does not
imply that Japanese will be outlawed in the classroom.
You should in no way hint that Japanese is forbidden,
wrong, or in any way inferior to English. At times
using Japanese is advantageous to an English-only
paradigm. Using Japanese to translate (rather then
explain) difficult vocabulary is expedient. This shortens
the explanation time and thus gives the learners more
time to communicate in English. Another example where
using Japanese is necessary is when a student asks
the teacher (or another student), "How do you
say...in English?" The thrust of this paper is
that the bulk of conversation in class, especially
when real communication is going on, should be done
as much as possible in English.
Do the author's students speak mostly English? Presently
I have four college conversation classes of unmotivated
to semi-motivated students. On average, I would say
the students speak about 90-95% English. Recently
there have been days when the students speak almost
all English. These classes have been meeting for about
four months now, and during the first month the students
were generally unmotivated and spoke only about 70%
in English.
What follows are some techniques that I have found
to be successful in getting my students to speak mostly
in English.
1. Establish your 100% goal from Day 1.
On the first day of class make your expectations
clear to your students. It's a good idea at this point
to contrast the six years of jr/high school (non-communicative)
English classes that they have experienced with what
you expect of them. I usually have my students make
a pact with both me and themselves. The students read
the promises (see below) and I elaborate on each a
bit. Next, the students sign their names in agreement.
My Promises
I promise to try to speak as much as possible.
I promise not to be afraid of making mistakes.
I promise not to speak any Japanese.
I promise to use English to communicate.
I promise to ask questions when I do not understand.
I promise to try to have fun!
2. Learn your students' names.
You will not be able to control your class well if
you don't know your students' names. If a student
is speaking in Japanese you need to be able to quickly
say, "Yuki--are you speaking English?" This
should not be said in an angry tone, but rather in
a friendly, almost joking tone. I cannot overemphasize
how important it is to learn your students' names.
I make it my first priority, and usually commit all
my students' names to memory by the third class.
3. Teach Classroom English early on.
In the second or third lesson students should be
taught useful classroom English. The students should
thoroughly memorize and practice using these expressions.
It is essential that you explain that these expressions
are not just for use with the teacher, but for use
with each other as well. Some examples of useful classroom
English are:
Do you have a partner?
Let's be partners.
How do you spell...?
What does ... mean?
etc.
4. Start (almost) every class with free conversation.
If I had to choose one technique that is the most
effective for getting students motivated and speaking
in English this would definitely be my choice. Have
the students sit facing a partner and tell them they
have to talk on a topic for a set time. They absolutely
must not speak any Japanese during this time! Possible
topics are yesterday, TV, movies, sports, etc. I usually
do this for 2-3 minutes at the beginning of a course
and build up to 10-15 minutes by the end (for false-beginners).
Over the past few years I have noticed that whenever
I fail to have the students do free conversation at
the beginning of class, they often speak much more
Japanese and the class generally is not as successful.
Free conversation works because it warms the students
up, and it gives them the sense that English can be
used for real communication.
5. Explain that real communication opportunities
arise after they say "finish" (sic).
After finishing a set task the teacher has given,
and while waiting for the other groups to finish,
students will invariably say "finish" and
proceed to speak in Japanese with their partner. The
goal should be for students to speak to each other
in English between activities as well as during them.
6. Arrange the classroom so that students
are sitting in rows facing each other.
As with free conversation, I have noticed whenever
I fail to arrange the chairs in this fashion the students
have been much more reticent to speak out. Ideally,
there will be no desks or barriers between the students,
only chairs in two rows facing each other (see diagram
below). There is something magical about this arrangement
that gets the students talking. It may work because
the students are out in the open and have nowhere
to hide and so feel obliged to speak only English.
Also, sitting face to face affords direct eye contact
which somehow improves communication in English.
Another advantage of this arrangement is that it
allows for a very easy and fair way to change partners.
Students simply stand up and move in a clockwise direction
a set number of chairs and end up sitting across from
a new partner.
7. Do the "Speaking Marathon" at
least twice during your course.
I usually do the speaking marathon in the fourth
or fifth lesson and after that once or twice more
as needed.
SPEAKING MARATHON
Work with a partner. You can talk about anything
you like with your partner, but you can't stop talking!
If you stop for more than 3 seconds, your team is
out! Also, if you speak any Japanese your team is
out! Which team can keep talking the longest?
I tell the students they can say anything when they
can't think of what to say, but they must fill in
the silence. They can say "umm...", "Let's
see...", "chicken", "kitchen",
and so on. Amazingly, students usually pause very
little, and I have often had groups go on for 20-30
minutes without pausing for more than three seconds.
During this activity you must act as a "policeman"
and go from group to group counting off three seconds
and noting when a group has spoken Japanese or has
stopped for more than three seconds. However, it's
best if you don't tell a group when they are out so
that everyone continues speaking for as long as possible.
There is simply no better way to build students' speaking
confidence than the speaking marathon.
8. Have the students write down every word
they say in Japanese.
At the start of class pass out small slips of paper
about the size of a post-it note. Explain that they
are to write down every word, phrase, or sentence
that they say in Japanese during the class. Tell them
that at the end of the class you will collect their
slips and count how many Japanese entries they have
made. Writing down what they say in Japanese helps
students to monitor their output, and this heightened
awareness helps to decrease the amount of Japanese
spoken. I have continually been amazed at how little
Japanese my students speak while doing this type of
self-monitoring.
As a variation, if you can speak a little Japanese,
write some of their Japanese on the board and then
teach them how to say the expressions in English.
9. Let the students go 5 minutes early if
they speak 100% English.
From time to time, especially when the students are
lapsing into Japanese too much, I stop the class halfway
through the lesson and announce that if everyone speaks
100% English for the rest of the period everyone can
leave early. The students don't always make it, but
having this goal cuts down the amount of Japanese
significantly if not completely. You may think that
the students would be afraid to speak out at all in
this situation, but I've actually found that they
speak out more after announcing the possibility of
leaving early.
10. Mimic your students when they speak Japanese.
You will need some Japanese ability in order to do
this effectively. If you can't speak any Japanese,
here is an incentive to learn. You will be able to
control your students much better if you can mimic
their Japanese slips and then say, "Is that English?"
and supply how to say the phrase in English immediately.
More often than not students quickly realize they
already know how to say the word or expression they
said in Japanese. For example, a student might indicate
that his or her partner can begin an activity by saying,
"Iiyo" in Japanese. At this point I would
mimic "Iiyo" and say, "Is that English?"
(facetiously of course) and then supply "Go ahead"
in English. Again, this must be done in a friendly
manner.
11. Be enthusiastic about your students speaking
only English.
At times you must be more of a coach than a teacher
to motivate your students. Until you have begun to
modify their behavior you will have to constantly
remind them not to lapse into Japanese. You must be
continually aware of what is going on in all areas
of the classroom monitoring all student output. Periodically
I give "pep talks" to encourage the students
when they are speaking too much Japanese and also
try to motivate them at times when they have failed.
Don't give up--change will not come overnight, but
slowly the students will respond to your enthusiasm.
12. Turn regular activities into information-gaps.
Information-gaps force the students to communicate
in English more than in activities where knowledge
is shared. I have rarely heard students speak Japanese
while doing information-gap activities, and for this
reason I use them liberally.
13. Pick topics and activities that your
students find interesting and useful.
I've put this point last for a reason. None of the
techniques elaborated above will be successful in
getting your students to speak English if your students
simply don't want to talk about the topic you've given,
or if they don't find the topic useful. Motivating
and practical activities and topics are necessary
to get your students talking in English.
