Saitama Municipal ALT Workshop: Instruction Through Interaction with Students

On October 17th 2016 I gave a workshop for the Saitama City’s municipal ALTs. The focus of the workshop was on interactions with individual students.

What is our role in the classroom?1-october-17th-alt-meeting-029

To begin our workshop ALTs were asked to describe what happens during learning activities. Specifically they were asked to describe their own teaching moves while students were engaged in some form of communication activity.

Many ALTs have a tendency to remain a teacher during these activities. However the main purpose of having foreign teachers (ALTs) in the classroom is to give students the opportunity to interact with English speakers from other cultures. As such the interactions we have with students must be viewed as an important form of instruction.

The External vs. Internal view of ALT-Student Interaction

1-october-17th-alt-meeting-016If the interactions that ALTs have with students are to be considered from their instructional value, then there are two ways in which they should be viewed. From a surface view, interaction with students should reflect the actual communication goals that the student (or curriculum) has. A simple interview, should look like a simple interview. On the inside, however, the teacher must be thinking of and making a large number of important decisions about the interaction. During this workshop four stages of interaction and a number of questions were presented as a way of helping teachers to analyze and improve their interaction with students.

Four Stages of Interacting to Instruct

For majority of our workshop, teachers discussed specific activities by answering the questions related to the four stages below.

Initiation

  • Who will you interact with? Why?
  • How will you approach the student? Why?

Interaction

  • What’s the purpose of the interaction for the teacher?
  • What’s the purpose of the interaction for the student?
  • How do these two aims relate?

Ending

  • When does the interaction with the student end?
  • What do you want the student to take away from the interaction?
  • What do you want to take away from the interaction?

Follow-up

  • What have you learned from interacting with students?
  • What will you share with other teachers?
  • How will what you’ve learned affect other lessons?