I still remember an English as a second language class I was teaching over three years ago. I was covering the class and so all the students were new faces to me, new friends. Just as importantly, I was to them too.
In the light of wanting to elicit as much open and creative language from them as possible, while they were still in a relatively early stage of English learning, I put the sentence, “Joel is ___________.” on the board, and nothing else. I read the start of the sentence to students. I asked how we could finish and fill the gap, how we could complete the sentence? Without further scaffolds, this was challenging. Students had met adjectives for describing people previously, but only practiced using in ‘yes or no’ questions. There was quiet for a time, but I stayed calm and waited.
Eventually, a student who had been a little quiet during the introduction activity we had done just before, said, “Joel is strong.” (Really? Haha.) From there, slowly others began to make sentences. We had time to continue to using both sentences with “_______ is ________.” and with “_______ isn’t _________.”, both making serious and joking examples, also building rapport between all of us in the process.
Something beautiful had happened just then. On a personal level, the student had been given the opportunity to speak up and build confidence. An opportunity for risk taking had been provided. A prompt for free production had been given.
Since then and before, I have encountered many, many similar incidences. Right through to even today, when , I asked students first what the definition of a continent was, and then later what a country was, and by waiting, was able to hear a very clear definition of a continent – “It is a place with many countries.”, and many ideas for what a country is, for example, “It has many people.”, “It has it’s food and clothes.” and “It has it’s parks, schools and wild animals.” Students were able to work together to make their own definitions and ideas surrounding the concepts.
Later on, we were discussing greetings in different countries. I asked, “How about Japan?” Some time was needed. I was going to provide some sort of support, but at that moment, a girl spoke up and shared with us – “こんにちは (Konnichiwa)”.
Waiting isn’t easy. It does require time. In addition, there are many times when we do need to give more support, so that students can enter the zone of proximal development, or to give inspiration. Knowing whether or not to provided further support is often a big question that we should reflect on.
Yet, as far as we can, always remember the importance of teacher wait time. Time to think is often needed. A space to take risks and think originally is created. A space encouraging of free expression. A space that can elicit deeper thinking and conversation. A space in which students can truly show you what they know. A student-centered situation that moves at the pace of the students. An opportunity for quieter or more shy students to speak up.
Thank you!