104 Part II: Putting Your Lesson Together
If the problem is more than a minor slip, the student needs an explanation
that shows that he’s made an error and exactly why it’s wrong.
Letting Your Fingers Do the Talking
Students have their eyes glued on their teacher quite a lot of the time, so
they get to know your gestures and mannerisms quite well. For that reason
alone, it makes sense to use your body language effectively instead of just
waving your arms around for emphasis.
Don’t worry about whether or not the students understand your gestures. Just
go ahead and they very quickly get used to them.
Using your hands
You can use your hands to indicate where a student has made errors in a
spoken sentence. These ideas may come in handy, if you’ll excuse the pun.
✓ Using fingers as words or syllables: One way to indicate where the
error is in a sentence is by using your fingers to represent words.
A student has come up with this sentence: She have been to France.
You can highlight the problem by holding out your left hand (right if
you’re left handed) and pointing to a finger as you say each word:
- she = the thumb
- have= the index finger
- been = the middle finger
- to = the ring finger
- France = the little finger
When you say ‘have’ waggle the index finger and use a questioning tone,
then carry on to the next finger/word.
✓ Pointing for time reference: To remind a student that he should refer to
the past, the present or the future, you can point back over your shoul-
der for the past, to the floor in front of you for the present and straight
ahead for the future.
✓ Extending: If the student has used only the base of a word (‘go’ instead
of ‘going’ or ‘inform’ instead of ‘information’), say the word using your
thumb and index finger: Start with them pressed together and separate
them as you say the word. Draw out the word as you say it too.
