CLL

We've briefly touched on Community Language Learning (CLL) in other Tips so it's time for a slightly more detailed look. This approach was developed by Charles Curran (1972) in his Counseling-Learning model of education. He took his core idea from Carl Rogers, who promoted the students as a group, rather than a class, & all the dynamics that a group entails. CLL views the teacher as the counselor, who guides the students, the clients, within the supportive group.

The basic procedure is as follows:

1. The students sit in a circle, having already built up a dynamic of trust. They have a tape recorder in the middle of the circle & they decide what to talk about, the topic, something that they choose & all are interested in.

2. When an individual has something to say, they record it on the tape. If they don't know how to express themselves, or wish to do it better, they can confer with the teacher, who is outside the circle. This can be done in the mother tongue & the teacher gives the student the English version of what they need to say. This is then taped. The whole conversation is built up on the tape.

3. At the end, after about ten minutes or so, the teacher stops the activity & before the next lesson, transcribes the conversation.

4. The transcribed conversation is used for analysis; highlighting new language, memory jogs on old language, pronunciation work etc.. & hopefully, the students will be able to work out the different aspects but if not, the teacher, would explain & clarify.

On first reading this you may wonder at the stilted nature of the recording task. This can be less fluid than you might hope for at the beginning but after a few times the procedure moves along smoothly. And if you are worried that the the students don't know what to talk about, you could do some pre-work on this by supplying a series of current topics to choose from. You might also need to work out strategies for avoiding one or two students dominating the discussions. And clearly, the smaller the class, the more manageable.

There are lots of variations on the basic procedure. The students, instead of the teacher, could transcribe the conversation at the end of the activity. A lot is made of the bilingualism of the teacher, being able to understand what the student says in the mother tongue & then give an appropriate way of saying the same in English. For beginner groups, it is necessary to have a high level in the mother tongue of the students but from intermediate & up, you could do the whole activity in English. The students could give an approximation of what they would like to say in English for the teacher to give a better way of expressing it.

This technique is clearly very student-centred & can be lots of fun for all. It was designed with beginner students in mind with the idea that after several sessions, the learners begin to incorporate the language from previous sessions & begin to become autonomous, & less dependent on the teacher. Whichever level it is used at, the students really listen to each other & it is good for developing the dynamics of the group.

Read up on CLL as it is a lot more than the procedure described above, & then try it out.

But they won't speak....

It was Mozart's 250th birthday last Friday so rather than wait another fifty years, you could design a lesson around his life & music. Here are a few links to help you get started:
Mozart.com
http://www.mozart.com/pages/1/index.htm
The Mozart Project
http://www.mozartproject.org/biography/index.html
Mozart at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart

This week we take a brief look at why our learners don't speak in English when we want them to. We set up activities but they aren't forthcoming. Here are a few reasons:

1. Some students may be shy in front of their peers.
2. The topic may not be interesting.
3. They don't have the necessary language to accomplish the task.
4. The students may not know what is required of them.
5. The students may feel that the activity is relevant to their learning objectives.
6. One std may be dominating.
7. The task has been over-prepared and there is little else to say on the topic.
8. The students would rather interact with the teacher rather than their class mates.
9. The roleplay might seem childish eg when asked to take on the role of a younger person.
10. Personality conflicts may mean that students don't want to work with each other.
11. They want to be corrected when they may mistakes. They hear others making them & wonder why you aren't doing anything.
12. The students just speak in their mother tongue.

Not a comprehensive list, I'm sure you can think of some more. Now here are some ideas for helping. They are mixed up so see if you can match the problem & a possible solution.

a. Analyse the task beforehand, predict what language they might need & teach them it before the task. If there is too much language to teach, then maybe this task is an inappropriate choice. If they don't have the language then they will naturally turn to their mother tongue to help them out.
b. Explain why you are asking them to carry out the task. It maybe a roleplay alien to their lives but the language may be transferable to different situations. Also explain the use of pairwork to maximise class time & that we always learn off each other.
c. I personally never get adults to roleplay youngsters.
d. Be aware of the personalities in the class & choose who works with who carefully. If this becomes a big problem, talk to individuals to sort it out.
e. Rotate the roles you give so that all have a chance to play a strong role, so the quieter ones get to come out of themselves & no one person can dominate every time.
f. Help students to ease into the roles by getting them to do some preparation before the class at home.
g. Again explain your methodology. If you aren't correcting during the task, tell them that you are monitoring them & will look at areas afterwards. If you step in during, then you will stop the flow of the activity. Talk about the difference between controlled & freer activities.
h. Try not to give out too much material when setting up the task. Be clear with instructions & check all know what they have to do.
i. Choose topics careful, & not just the next one in the coursebook because it's there.
j. Involve your students in the choice of topics. Give out a list &, as a class, select the next few to look at.
k. Maybe you're expecting production too quickly after introducing new language. Some more controlled activities might be needed.

It can be a challenge to get our students to speak but a lot lies in the preparation, both in our lesson planning & the preparation of the students for the task.