Four Steps for Teaching a Second Language

 The basic setup to teach a second language is question and answer. Here are the basic four steps.  

1: Practice the answers. 

2: Practice the question. 

3: Students ask the question of the teacher. 

4: Students ask and answer the question with each other. 

This set up assumes there are at least two students. If there is only one student then the teacher has to step into the role of the second student so that a conversation can happen. 

Let’s look at each step in a bit more detail. Practicing the answers is basic input. This is where you are giving new vocabulary to the students. A teacher who wastes time will show flashcards to students and expect the students to be able to use those new words on their own. We will not be wasting time or making assumptions.  Let’s suppose we have a set of nine fruit names we want to teach.  A teacher who wastes time will show each fruit and have the students say the name of the fruit. Then the bad teacher will assume the students will remember that for the rest of their lives. That’s not how we do this. 

Even if the teacher can be assured that the students probably know the vocabulary ahead of time, it is still best to always use best practices.  First, the teacher needs to give an instruction to the students on what to do.  

Listen, repeat; listen, repeat. Ok?  

That “OK?” at the end is important. The teacher wants the students to acknowledge and agree to the instruction.  The teacher is not some overlord dictator.  This is a relationship that has to be built on consent and trust. 

The teachers says each word and the students repeat after the teacher. The teacher does this TWICE for each word before moving on to the next word.  

Example: 

T: Apple

S: Apple

T: Apple

S: Apple

T: Orange

S: Orange

T: Orange 

S: Orange

After the students can repeat the words in isolation it is time to put those words into a sentence. Never skip this part. 

This is a good time to let you know about a tactic we call “Staying on Script”.  As the teacher you have already worked out what question and answer the students will be asking each other later. So stay on script. Don’t expose them to the fifteen different ways to say the same thing.  Stay on script.  If you are going to practice “I like apples” then don’t bring in “I prefer” or “I would like” or “My favorite”.  Stick to “I like” for this lesson. Teach those others in isolation at a later time. 

So students have progressed from saying “apple” to now repeating after the teacher to be able to say “I like apples”. They have now practiced the answers. You just gave them the answers to the questions. 

Next, have the students listen and repeat the questions. “What fruit do you like?”  At this point in time they are just repeating sounds that might have no meaning for the students.  They might have begun to process the sound for “Apple” being related to the red fruit (or green if you are like me). Now they are practicing something that they have no context to understand.  It is just sounds at this point. So you can’t stop at step two or this will waste time. 

In step three we finally get halfway to our goal. Give a simple instruction with big, clear gestures. “Ask Me!” The students ask the teacher the question. The teacher answers. That answer is the context that allows the students to understand what just happened. They didn’t know something, they asked a question, and then received new information. Communication just happened. The students asked a question and didn’t know what the teacher would answer. That wakes the brain up to real language learning that will finally stick.  

Hint: If there are other adults watching or near the area you can rope them into this by directing the students to ask those adults as well. But be careful that the person you are targeting will be able to understand what the question even is. 

Now the students move on to step four. They ask and answer the question to each other. You can trick them into doing a bit of grinding at this point. Instead of having them ask only one time, have the students ask each other repeatedly.  Tell them the rule is that they need to answer at least once that they like each fruit on the list that you studied that day. Even if they don’t like that fruit to just go along with it for practice as muscle training for their mouth. After they have asked and answered for the whole list, then they can ask and answer a final time and say their true answer. 

Don’t be surprised or alarmed if the student’s true answer is not on the list. Give them the freedom to say Tomato as a fruit that is the one they like.  Once you give them language, now they own it. It is theirs now. Let them own it.