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All learners need time to process new ideas and information. They especially need time to verbally make sense of and articulate their learning with a community of learners who are also engaged in the same experience and journey.

In other words, kids need to talk!!

Problem is, sometimes it's hard to stay on subject without a little guidance. That's why structured discussions really work best with children, regardless of their maturity level.

These ten discussion techniques (and a little purposeful planning) go beyond the traditional turn and talk/think-pair-share to give students an opportunity to deepen their understanding while practicing their verbal skills.

1. Double Think-Pair-Share

This technique is great for collaborating and generating many ideas on a topic. Note: Make sure students have paper and pencil handy.

Arrange students into pairs (teacher or student choice).

Pose a question that has many possible answers. For example, what are some ways our school can become more "green"?

Pause for "think time."

Partners do traditional think-pair-share, brainstorming as many ideas as they can in a set amount of time and writing their answers down on a piece of paper.

After the allotted time, each pair then finds another pair to share answers with. As the first team reads their answers aloud, the second team adds new ideas to their list or puts a check mark next to items they also thought of. The second team then shares answers that were missing from first team's list.

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2. Mingle, Pair, Share

A great activity to get kids up and moving and encourage them to interact with all of their classmates.

3. Sticky-Note Storm

This activity is great for brainstorming, reviewing, and thinking outside the box. It's also a great way for students to teach and learn from one another. It works best when kids are seated in small table groups. Note: Have a supply of sticky notes available for each table.

The teacher poses a question, sets a time limit, and gives students a moment to think before writing. For example, "In two minutes, how many math problems can you write down that have the solution 23?" or "In 45 seconds, write down as many adjectives as you can."

Each student writes down as many answers as they can think of-one idea per sticky note-and sticks it to the center of the table.

The goal is to generate as many ideas as possible and cover the table with sticky notes! At the end of each round, students review one another's ideas.

4. Sage and Scribe

In this activity, one student plays the role of teacher, and the other plays the attentive student. Explaining concepts clearly is a difficult skill that requires a lot of practice, and recording information helps students build note-taking skills.

Students work in pairs. One student is the sage (speaker) and one is the scribe (silent writer).

Pose a question and allow a few moments for sages to think. For example: "Explain how the water cycle works."

When the teacher says "go," the sage explains the process clearly to the scribe.

The scribe records the sage's thinking on paper.

When time is up, the sage and scribe switch roles with a new question.

5. Inside-Outside Circle or Parallel Lines

Also called Tea Party, Face to Face, Serpentine, Ladder

6. Detective

This activity is great for reviewing learned material or trying new versions of familiar problems. It can be used for math concepts, science lab follow-up questions, grammar exercises, reading summaries, etc. It is also good as a team-building or getting-to-know-you activity. Students will need a worksheet, a pencil, and a clipboard (if you have them, students can also write on desk surfaces).

7. Quiz, Quiz, Trade

This activity is great for test review. It gets your students up and moving. They get to ask and answer not just one, but many questions. They may even come across the same one more than once, reinforcing the concept. Kids love it because unlike drill-and-kill review sessions, this feels more like a game.

Prepare review cards with questions and answers. (This sounds time consuming, but it can be as simple as cutting up one review sheet into individual cards or having students be involved in preparing the cards.)

Pass out one review card per student.

Students stand and circulate with one hand in the air, searching for a partner.

Once they pair up, partner 1 asks partner 2 the question on their card. Partner 2 answers. If they get the answer correct, partner 1 offers praise. If not, partner 1 coaches partner 2 until the correct answer is revealed.

Partners switch roles and repeat the question-answer process.

After both partners have asked and answered, they trade cards and set off to find a new partner. The process continues for whatever amount of time the teacher determines is appropriate.

Note: The last three activities work best if students are seated in table groups of four.
8. Flash

Another great review activity. Again, you (or you and your students) will need to prepare question and answer cards. Each student will also need a dry-erase board and a marker or scrap paper and a pencil. Explain the concept of "think time" to your students before you begin so that slower processors don't feel anxious. Assign one student in each desk group to be the captain.

9. Write Around

This is a fun activity for creative writing or story summarizing. Each student needs their own piece of paper and pencil.

Ask each student to copy the sentence starter and finish the sentence on their own piece of paper.

After they have written their answer, each student passes their paper to the team member on their right.

Next, the student reads the paper they have received from their neighbor and adds a new sentence to that page.

Again, they pass the paper to their right.

After a few go-rounds, four great stories or summaries emerge.

Give students time to read their final versions add a conclusion and/or edit their favorite one to share with the class.

10. Team Huddle

This a great whole-class activity for team building and relationship strengthening. Each member of the group must cooperate and participate for the team to be successful. This activity is best used with questions that have definite right answers, not opinions. Each team needs a whiteboard and marker.

Have students in each table group to number off in their teams from one to four.

Announce a question and a time limit. For example, "How do you spell the word conservation? You have twenty seconds." or "What are three properties of a rectangle? You have forty seconds."

Students at each table group put their heads together to come up with one answer. Tell the students to speak softly so that other groups won't overhear their answer.

One student will record the group's answer on the whiteboard.

When time is up, call a number (1-4) and ask the student from each team with that number to stand at their table group holding their group's answer sheet.

When you say "reveal," each designated student will turn over their answer sheet, and the students can look around and survey the groups' different answers.

Recognize correct responses and elaborate through rich discussion. If you want to make the activity a competition, you can keep track of team points for correct answers.

We'd love to hear your think-pair-share alternatives! Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook. Plus, creative ways to pick partners.

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10 Fun Alternatives to Think-Pair-Share - We Are Teachers

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Kids need to talk to learn. These structured discussion techniques are fun and mix things up from the usual think-pair-share tactic.

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The interaction between a teacher and their students as well as students and their peers is an important part of the language learning experience. There are various patterns of communication that many ESL teachers observe to change the dynamics of their classes. Varying these different patterns helps change and improve the language learning atmosphere. It is also important to recognize that some of these patterns are teacher-centered while others are student-centered. When patterns are teacher-centered, they are easily controlled by the teacher. Conversely, when the patterns are student-centered, it gives students freer practice with the language. Depending on the class, teachers vary the usage of these interaction patterns, not only to teach the materials effectively but also to create a suitable learning environment for acquiring the target language. Teachers who recognize the effects of these interaction patterns understand that each respective interaction pattern plays a pivotal role in their student's engagement with the material or activities, and their classroom dynamics. In this article, we will explore the classroom interaction patterns that are normally found in the ESL classroom and highlight when each one is best suited, as well as their pedagogical advantages.

Individual work

Individual work is when the teacher assigns a task that learners work on by themselves. It is an opportunity for students to explore the language on their own. Some examples of activities that are best conducted individually are reading and writing tasks, or comprehension exercises. Many studies have shown that independent learning affects the development of learner autonomy, which is the goal of many teachers for their learners. During an independent work session, students are given the opportunity to rely on their own resources, and it is also during this time that teachers can gauge the level and progress of their students. Individual work periods also serve as a useful classroom management tool to calm down a noisy class or even to control a challenging group. Implementing individual work is also a useful transition activity between a lecture and group or pair work. As an example, after a lesson on grammar, students can complete a short comprehension exercise before diving into an activity where they have to produce or apply what they have learned.

Group work or pair work

Activities that require collaboration and two-way communication are best implemented through group work and pair work. This interaction pattern is student-centered as the students get to play with the language. Pair work and group work give the teacher an ample amount of time to monitor the students understanding of the lesson content. This type of student-to-student interaction provides students with more speaking time and is a great way of getting the student to use and actively produce the target language. Group work or pair work is especially helpful in creating engaging classrooms and can help to change the pace of a lesson. Activities that lend themselves to this type of interaction include role-plays or dialogues, reading circles, matching or review games, practice conversation, to name a few.

Due to possible factors such as the flexibility of the seating arrangements, the tasks given, the clarity of your instructions, or even the class size, improper execution of this interaction pattern can lead to situation where students veer off task and result in an unsuccessful completion of the activity. To prevent this situation, consider implementing the following three strategies:

* Actively monitor your students by moving around the class to make observations of the language being produced.

* Set up the activity so that students take it in turns speaking or assign each group member a specific role such as leader or secretary.

* Set a time limit to keep students focused on the assigned task.

More importantly, pay close attention to the dynamics of your classroom as this is also a significant feature to consider before grouping students together. Try to be more observant or aware of how your students interact with one another. If there are situations where students do not get along, or if you notice a student who is uncomfortable consider switching up the groups to avoid any confrontational issues during activities.

Despite some potential shortcomings, facilitating these kinds of activities is rewarding for both students and teachers alike.

Close-ended teacher questioning

Many teachers gravitate toward close-ended questioning especially in contexts where classrooms are more traditional or teacher-centered. Close-ended questions are questions in which the answer can only come from a limited number of options. For example, questions that require an answer to who, what, where, or when. As a result, teachers can control the language that students use. Some examples of close-ended questions are yes/no questions or questions used for concept checking such as after giving instructions or explaining a key language point. This type of questioning is helpful when it comes to checking if students are paying attention. It is also useful for classroom management, especially when it comes to reorienting students' attention or having to deal with challenging students.

With this type of question, the interaction pattern is mostly top down between the teacher and the students. Studies have also shown that with this type of questioning, students take a more passive role. Thus, it is the teacher's responsibility to be wary of how often this type of questioning is implemented. Consider, for example, noting which students are always answering the questions, encouraging shyer students to participate, and increasing the wait time after each question to ensure all students have an opportunity to answer.

Open-ended teacher questioning

This type of questioning occurs when the teacher asks a series of questions that have a variety of answers, depending on the students' own views and knowledge of the topic. Open-ended questions are a useful tool for concept checking. For instance, in evaluating how much their students know about a particular topic or in checking their level of comprehension concerning a lesson or text they have read. Compared to close-ended questions, open-ended questions encourage critical thinking since there is a wider range of acceptable answers. It is a great way to explore a topic more freely as the answers expected require more thought and the broadness of the question can allow for some creative freedom. In addition, these questions can be expanded to discuss the 'why' and 'how' and as a result, create more opportunities to produce the target language. Look at the difference between these two questions.

Close-ended: "Do you like summer?" (Answer: Yes/No)

Open-ended: "What do you enjoy about summer? Why?" (Answer: I enjoy X, Y, and Z...because...)

In general, open-ended questions are best suited for activities where students have to brainstorm such as creating mind maps or word maps, for exploring broad topics such as culture, or for learning how to develop ideas and express opinions.

Full-class interaction

Activities such as class debates, discussions, or review games, are examples of full-class interactions. These activities are a great way to end a lesson or unit, and also serve as an alternative formative assessment method. Full-class interaction allows for different communication patterns, not only between the teacher and student, but also between students and their teacher, and among students and their peers. Similar to group work or pair work, this type of interaction pattern promotes the production of the target language. It is also a way of drawing students' attention to useful language items or for doing error correction. Some teachers do this by doing mini-lessons on a particular mistake or by reviewing a specific language concept.

Implementing activities that involve the entire class helps to build teacher and student rapport and creates a positive learning environment. Creating a points system to encourage healthy competition is also another means of sustaining motivation in the classroom when it comes to getting students to participate in activities.

Choral response

Choral response is a common practice, especially in drills or pronunciation lessons. This is another teacher-centered interaction pattern in which the students simply repeat what the teacher says. In most ESL classrooms, teachers use it as a way to introduce new concepts such as verb conjugation or to introduce the pronunciation of a sound. While this method is common, it is more suitable for the beginning of a lesson or as a review to quickly check comprehension. However, various studies have concluded that it is not a reliable way to assess student understanding. While choral responses may give some teachers a sense of assurance, it is not safe to assume that all your students understand solely through repetition.

Monlogues

Every teacher is familiar with giving monologues as it is a widely used teacher-centered technique. Monologues are often used to give instructions when setting up an activity or to explain a more complex language point or concept. When teachers implement monologues in the classroom, the students do not need to interact, and the focus is on listening. Similar to choral response, monologues are also best suited at the beginning of a lesson to introduce a topic or grammar concept. Monologues are a great tool in this regard, but it is easy for students to lose interest or become distracted. Try using visuals like realia or pictures to keep students' attention. Asking a variety of questions, open-ended and close-ended, also helps to check in on students' attentiveness and understanding. To encourage active listening, try to incorporate a cloze-activity, where students need to follow along to fill in the missing information.

Homework

Students' progress in the target language also depends on what they do to practice at home. Assigning homework allows students to work alone outside of the classroom and this is particularly helpful in contexts where English is not the main language. These days, teachers assign worksheets in person or over the Internet to supplement or reinforce what their students learn in class. Like individual learning, homework assignments fall under the category of asynchronous learning where students can learn at a more convenient time of their own choosing. Homework encourages students to be aware of their own abilities as they become aware of what they can or cannot do. It also gives students the opportunity to ask their teachers specific language-related questions for the following day, which the teachers can then use to determine their students' language learning needs.

Final thoughts

As we have discussed, certain activities lend themselves to particular interaction patterns. Teacher-centered interaction patterns such as monologues, close-ended questioning, and choral responses may seem outdated. However, they still have a place in the classroom, especially in maintaining order and structure. Student-centered interaction patterns such as group work and pair work, open-ended questioning, and full-class interactions, provide opportune moments for meaningful production. While individual work periods and homework assignments create opportunities for students to develop learner autonomy. The interaction patterns that we have discussed should complement one another. As a result, there is no best interaction pattern as their success in the classroom is determined by a variety of factors. Every class is different and has its own set of needs and challenges. Take time to evaluate and reflect on the interaction patterns you observe and implement them accordingly to create the most suitable learning environment for your particular classroom.

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Classroom Interaction PatternsThe interaction between a teacher and their students as well as students and their peers is an important part of the language learning experience. There are various patterns of communication that many ESL teachers observe to change the dynamics of their classes. Varying these different patterns helps change and improve the language learning atmosphere.

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New Trends in English Language Teaching and Testing

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Jack C.Richards

NTELT Honorary Scientific Committee

The University of Sydney, the University of Auckland

Dr. Jack C. Richards is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops for language teachers.

He has written over 150 articles and books.

Many of his books and articles are classics in the field of second language teaching. Among his well known professional books

Error Analysis, (1974)

Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms (1996, with Charles Lockhart)

Beyond Training (1998)

The Language Teaching Matrix (1990)

Curriculum Development in Language Teaching (2001)

Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (third edition 2014, with Ted Rodgers)

Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (4th edition 2010, with Richard Schmidt)

Professional Development for Language Teachers (with Tom Farrell)

Cambridge Guide to Second Language Teacher Education, (2009, edited with Anne Burns)

Cambridge Guide to Pedagogy and Practice in Language Teaching (edited with Anne Burns)

Language Learning Beyond the Classroom (Routledge 2014, edited with David Nunan,)

Key Issues in Language Teaching (Cambridge 2015).

Professor Richards has for many years made himself available as a speaker at many professional conferences without a fee, and supported scholarship programs in different parts of the world.

In December 2011 Dr. Richards was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature by Victoria University, Wellington, in recognition of his contributions to English language teaching and the arts.

In 2011 Dr. Richards was made an honorary professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Sydney, Australia.

In 2014 Dr. Richards was made an honorary professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Also in 2014, Dr. Richards received the prestigious Award for Patronage 2014, by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, acknowledging his support for music and the arts.

In 2016 the International TESOL organization as part of their 50th anniversary honored Jack Richards as one of the 50 TESOL specialists worldwide to have made a significant impact on language teaching in the last 50 years.

source: http://www.professorjackrichards.com

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Jack Richards , NTELT Honorary Scientific Committee - New Trends in English Language Teaching and Testing

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Dr. Richards is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops for English language teachers. He has written over 150 articles and books.

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-It's meaningful to invite older children who are more advanced in the language to engage them with younger children in activities such as role-playing and answering simple questions.

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When teaching English it is important to use the native language when necessary to explain meanings, expressions and help explain activities.

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13. Use English for classroom management

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13. Use English for classroom management

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-Use classroom language and commands.
-Give instructions in English, also establish a daily routine from the beginning of the day.

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-Set clear and achievable goals for the children.
-Let them know when they have succeeded, give praise like stickers, stars, points or smiley faces.

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-The teacher has to provide enriched language to explain how to carry out each activity.
-Provide linguistic support during the activity.

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10. Use enjoyable activities that children can accomplish without frustration

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10. Use enjoyable activities that children can accomplish without frustration

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Children get bored more quickly, so use dynamic activities such as games that involve movement, role plays, activities with some kind of challenge.

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9. Create a supportive learning community in the classroom

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9. Create a supportive learning community in the classroom

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-A community leads to more productive learning.
-Each child collaborates to achieve the common goals of the class.
-Children who interact and collaborate with other students develop a more positive attitude towards learning.

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8. Use activities that involve collaboration

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8. Use activities that involve collaboration

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-Children enjoy socializing with other children, so group and pairs activities are best for them.
-Children learn the importance of helping to complete the activity or task.

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7. Choose content children are familiar with

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7. Choose content children are familiar with

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-The content can be based on family and cultural situations and events such as Christmas, national holidays, among others.
-When children are familiar with the content it is easier for them to speak English.

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It's good to involve topics of interest into the lessons, especially topics that connect to the children's lives, such as animals, friends, food, family, etc.

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5. Involve students in creating resources that support their learning

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5. Involve students in creating resources that support their learning

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Have the children create their own resources and materials, such as creating puppets, posters, drawing characters from a story, looking for pictures in magazines, etc.

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-Scaffolding refers to how a child learns through the help of a teacher, parents, and classmates.
-When children collaborate on tasks, more proficient students can provide the scaffolding needed by less proficient students.

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-A task is a meaning-focused activity that requires learners to draw on and use their existing linguistic resources to complete a task. E.g., Drawing a picture from oral instructions, or working in pairs or groups and sequencing a series of pictures to complete a story.

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2. Build lessons around linked activities

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2. Build lessons around linked activities

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-It's best to include different types of short activities in a lesson such as group, pair, individual, and whole class activities.
-Integrate English skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.
-Teacher–student / student–student activities.

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1. Build teaching around activities and physical movement

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1. Build teaching around activities and physical movement

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-Apply the TPR method through physical activities making children use and listen to the English language to do things.
E.g., Draw pictures, complete puzzles, match words and pictures, play games, among others.

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According to professor Jack Richards there is a number of principles may inform the following approaches to Teaching Young Learners:

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According to professor Jack Richards there is a number of principles may inform the following approaches to Teaching Young Learners:

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Richards, J. (2016, September 13). Methods and Techniques for Young Learners. Retrieved from the official website  of Educator Jack C. Richards: https://www.professorjackrichards.com/methods-and-techniques-for-young-learners/

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There are appropriate methods for teaching young children, such as the Total Physical Response (TPR), Task-Based Language Learning & Ludic Method.

Children learn best through physical, auditory and visual activities. You can use materials and resources such as flashcards, pictures, songs, videos, etc. It's important to create short activities of 5-10 minutes (not long) so that children don't become frustrated; hence the importance of including dynamic games.

In addition, it's essential to integrate English skills into different types of activities such as individual, group and pair activities.

We must remember that children always need the help and guidance of the teacher and their parents, and we must also encourage companionship and help among all.