Alejandra Peyrot- 4th Grade- English- CeRP Southwest

Approximate view of students speaking proportion: (TTT

vs. STT)

The group I have is composed by 6 students; all of them are boys and are
between 16 and 23 years old. This is an ESP course (English for specific
purposes) of Mechanics and students are in the final stage of their learning
process.

Students have English lessons once a week, three periods of 40 minutes

each one. Related to the three periods I mentioned, during the first one, I am alone
with the students. During the next two periods I share the lesson, firstly with the IT
teacher (Information Technology) and then with the Mechanics teacher in the
workshop.

Although students in this group are in the final year of their course and have
had English lessons for three years, they find difficulty in understanding the
language when listening to it. Therefore, I have to speak to them in both, L2 and
L1. As a teacher of English, I try to make gestures and speak in English all the
time; however, it is inevitable for me not to use L1.

I have tried using expressions, for instance Did you finished? May I
continue?, Copy this please, and they understand them perfectly. But when I
have to give instructions in order to propose activities for them, they find difficulties
in understanding what they have to do. I believe that may be I have to practice
using cognates and short instructions, combining them with the use of body
language. Relating to this, Harmer establishes that The best activity in the world is
a waste of time if the students don't understand what it is they are supposed to
do1. So, it is highly relevant for students to understand instructions clearly by
making them simple and in a logical way.

In the case students share the same mother tongue among them and with
the teacher, a member of the class can be asked to translate the instructions into
their mother tongue so as to explain an activity or as a check that they have
understood what they have to do.

1
Harmer, Jeremy, How to teach English, Pearson, Longman, 2007.
 Alejandra Peyrot- 4th Grade- English- CeRP Southwest

From my point of view, an ideal STT (students talking time) would be 70

percent over 30. That is to say, 70 percent would represent STT and 30 percent
TTT (teacher talking time).

Teachers lessons are sometimes criticized because there is too much TTT
(Teacher Talking Time) and not enough STT (Student Talking Time).

According to Harmer, overuse of TTT is inappropriate because the more a

teacher talks, the less chance there is for the students to practise their own
speaking - and it is the students who need the practice, not the teacher. I f a
teacher talks and talks, the students will have less time for other things, too, such
as reading and writing2. Consequently, I consider a good teacher would be the
one that maximizes STT. However, this does not mean the teacher do not have to
talk, TTT is good for telling a story, making an introduction to the lesson, etc. The
aim is to keep a balance between STT and TTT.

Considering my lessons, I am inclined to predict that the percentage would

be 10 or 20 over 80-90 percent, as students level is not appropriate to practice and
use the L2.

One of the ways Harmer proposes to maximize STT is pairwork or

groupwork. I think it is a good technique and I have implemented it, but sometimes
students are afraid and ashamed of talking in English in front of their classmates.

Along with groupwork, the way I consider the most suitable for my lessons is
to try using comprehensible input for students, that is to say, to use simple
language they can more or less understand, even though it is above their own
speaking level. In addition, implementing repetition, the use of cognates and body
language are relevant techniques to include in lessons, as I stated before.

To sum up, I agree with Harmer in the fact that the best lessons, therefore,
are ones where STT is maximized, but where at appropriate moments during the
lesson the teacher is not afraid to summarize what is happening3.

2
Harmer, Jeremy, How to teach English, Pearson, Longman, 2007.
3
Harmer, Jeremy, How to teach English, Pearson, Longman, 2007.