320 Part V: What Kind of Class Will I Have?
Pointing out the pitfalls of monolingual classes
The trouble with monolingual classes is that when students know that
everyone speaks the same language (except perhaps the teacher) there just
isn’t a great need to communicate in another tongue. There is no urgency to
learn English or at least to speak it. Especially for younger learners, there is
not as much natural curiosity as when their classmate comes from a far flung,
exotic land.
Another problem is that there isn’t so much to ask classmates about when
they all come from the same area and have similar backgrounds. Even worse,
perhaps the students have taken the course just to get out of the house and
make some new friends. This is hardly ideal for linguistically focused lessons.
Your class might just as well be a coffee morning.
If your students are school age or perhaps taking English as a compulsory
course in university, they may be lacking in motivation and at times downright
resistant to learning because they have no choice in the matter.
Creating an ‘English’ environment
You can employ various strategies to get students using English together.
The physical environment can encourage use of the language if it promotes
the culture typical of English speaking countries. So students should see and
hear lots of interesting things in English. You should also use the English
language so consistently and efficiently in the classroom that students view
it as inappropriate to speak any other language in this environment. The idea
is for the classroom to become a place where students can suspend disbelief
and forget that there is any other language which offers a viable means of
communication. During the lesson they are in an outpost of an English
speaking country and must behave accordingly.
Use these tips to create the kind of atmosphere in class that makes students
want to speak English.
✓ Make activities interesting, but not too fun. Believe it not, if an activity
is too fun, students may simply forget to speak English in the heat of the
moment, and the activity becomes more important than the language
point you’re practising.
