Ask and ye shall receive
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TUOITRENEWS: Christophe from France said in an article that his Vietnamese students always kept silent in class and it was hard for him to know how much they understand the lessons. In response to that, Tran Ngoc Vui, a reader and also a teacher wrote us to share his experience to make students speak up.
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An English teacher at my junior high school was unusual. Unlike normal Vietnamese teachers, he would not ask students to come up to the blackboard to recite lessons at the start of a class.
When teaching a passage, he would fire questions related to reading comprehension, pronunciation, grammatical structure and terms, etc. Every student giving the right answer would get marks in the oral test column in his notebook.
Those volunteering to read a new passage or recite certain passages of earlier lessons would get marks as well. Offered such motivation, many students would eagerly put up their hands when asked a question along with the entreaty: “Em, Thầy, Em, Thầy” (Me, Teacher. Me, Teacher).
This may be a story from long ago but the image of the teacher with the “English For Today” textbook in his hands and encouraging words such as “Excellent,” “Very good,” “Don’t worry, next time” on his lips are still engraved in my mind.
How can I forget his sentences that seemed pedantic and simple but motivated us enough to speak up? – “Who knows it?” “Who can answer?” “Who volunteers?” “If you know, please raise your hand” …
It was many years later I began to employ my teacher’s method in class in both rural and urban classes. Invariably, this made the class atmosphere lively and the quality of learning high.
To inspire Vietnamese students, including in vocational courses, to ask questions and enter into discussions with the teacher, it is not necessary “to have a master’s degree in psychology” as Christophe Bourgeonnier claims in his article titled “The silence of the lambs”
Instead, what is needed is a flexible method of asking the children questions.
Sometimes a teacher/trainer should pose a question to the class and wait for individuals to reply. Sometimes s/he should divide a class into small groups.
In special cases, the teacher should read aloud a certain group’s reply if it is outstanding and praise it as a means of providing encouragement.
Nowadays, teachers and students can exchange detailed opinions through e-mail.
Will “The silence of the lambs” turn into “The twitter of the birds” thanks to the ceaseless improvements in teaching methods?
Tran Ngoc Vui
(A reader from Hau Giang southern province)
