Quill English Academy

In this section, we’ll discuss the following ideas:

• comprehensible input
• holistic immersion
• TPR – Total Physical Response
• the communication window
• mirroring
• scaffolding
• cumulative and spaced repetition review
• CLT – Communicative Language Teaching
• classroom management

Comprehensible Input:

This is the foundational EFL/ESL/ELL concept. Think of it like how the concept of evolution is to related to biology, or how the concept of atoms is related to chemistry.

Nothing is learned if it’s not understood.

What is learned when understanding was assumed by a teacher but didn’t actually take place is a critically negative lesson that further separates a student’s eager attention from an ineffective teacher, hindering future growth already in jeopardy due to the teacher’s lack of understanding.

Imagine a large, powerful, interesting alien jabbering pleasantly but mostly incomprehensibly. That’s not entirely different from what your young foreign-language students see, at times. Thus arises students’ understandable strategy of smiling and nodding if prompted, and trying to entertain themselves however they can.

Don’t expect your students to tell you when they don’t understand something.

Treasure the moments when they ask like the precious gifts they are. When questions come, treat them like handwritten letters from the Queen, or gifts from your future self sent through a wormhole. Or something like that.

Expect that most of the time, the social pressure of appearing smart and cool is greater than the
compelling urge of curiosity. (As an aside, remember that, when disciplining someone! Make sure they have a comfortable way back into your esteem and the esteem of their classmates.)

Make your classroom language simple and consistent.
It can be difficult to pay attention to the words we use, especially at first, since language is like an appendage: you just use it once you’ve got it. This is especially true for the more outgoing types who enjoy conversing.

Make your classroom language simple and consistent.
Don’t expect to be understood. Check to see if you’re understood! Asking “Do you understand?” is rarely useful. Instead, devise a simple experiment. For example, after teaching ‘open’, ‘close’, ‘book’, ‘mouth’, and ‘ear’, ask
them to close their eyes with their books on their table (perhaps as part of a “Teacher Says” game…) Ask them to open their book. Then ask them to open their mouths. Then ask them to close their books and their mouths. Then ask them to close their ears and have fun with
what happens.

Make your classroom language simple and consistent.
With a firm base of classroom vocabulary (this might take many weeks), we can introduce new, colloquial, fun ways to discuss things. But still, frequently check to make sure
you’re understood. Of course, each time you check and find out you were understood, that is time you could have used to move on. This is one of the many balancing acts that we must perform.

A final note here is to speak slightly slower and clearer than you’d like to, making sure that when introducing a new word, you’re using other words they’ve already become familiar with.

Holistic Immersion: