{"id":47,"date":"2016-01-19T01:19:54","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T01:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/viviennekraus\/?p=47"},"modified":"2016-01-19T15:39:31","modified_gmt":"2016-01-19T15:39:31","slug":"i-have-ways-of-making-you-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/viviennekraus\/2016\/01\/19\/i-have-ways-of-making-you-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"I have ways of making you talk!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is my official Action Plan:<\/p>\n

Use co-operative structures during class<\/strong><\/p>\n

to effectively build students’ oral proficiency in French<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0in an authentic manner.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my last post, I mentioned the co-operative learning structure Talking Chips from\u00a0Kagan Cooperative Learning<\/em>\u00a0by Dr. Spencer Kagan and Miguel Kagan (@KaganOnline). I had been eager to try new structures – RoundRobin & RallyRobin and Simultaneous RoundTable in particular but\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>\u2026<\/em>then I fell back onto a structure I felt very comfortable with \u2013 Inside-Outside Circle: \u201cIn concentric circles, students rotate to face new partners and then answer or discuss teacher questions.\u201d (http:\/\/www.kaganonline.com\/free_articles\/research_and_rationale\/313\/Effects-of-Communication-on-Student-Learning)<\/p>\n

But I still wanted something more. Inside-Outside Circle had become less of a circle, and more of an amoeba-shaped blob as I attempted to mold the class within the confines of the desk set-up without constantly arranging and rearranging the desks to the different class sizes. The sound level made it nearly impossible to hear one another as students were conversing in very close proximity. And the blob formation made it unclear which direction to rotate. (I have, however, used a more zipper-like formation with more success.)<\/p>\n

In any case, I decided to set up \u2018stations\u2019 around the classroom. These are merely numbers taped to the wall. Students then spread out and work in partners at each of these stations. The students have more space to work in and the rotation becomes more obvious, and thus the stations seem more effective overall. (I may have borrowed\/stolen this idea, and if so \u2013 MERCI! \u2013 oh, and could you please remind me where I got it from? I\u2019d like to give the person credit.)<\/p>\n

Here is a picture of the \u2018station\u2019:<\/p>\n

\"Station<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a picture of students working at a station:<\/p>\n

\"Station<\/a><\/p>\n

So far I\u2019ve used this structure for general oral discussion as well as interviews. For the discussion, I set up my Sharp Board like the picture below, with the question on one side and the timer on the other.<\/p>\n

\"Split<\/p>\n

My students are high school level and I\u2019ve found that 2-2.5 minutes was lengthy enough for the discussion questions. As they\u2019re discussing, I circulate and listen in and\/or give feedback, or help them with vocabulary. Afterwards, I sometimes have them discuss the same question with different partners, or I ask for volunteers to share their answer, or I pick students to share, or they just move on to the next question.<\/p>\n

How do I get them to the stations? As the title states, I have ways of making them talk!<\/p>\n

Here are some of the methods that I\u2019ve used:<\/p>\n