Today I woke up to find out that my voice was hoarse – and
as a teacher who has little monsters in the classroom can you imagine what that
means?
To my big surprise my kids were quite understanding. I went
to the class and told them that I was not able to speak loudly but they needed
to be OK with my moving lips. First they did not get it, thinking I was only
making a joke; but then they understood that I was really serious -I could
barely make any noise! Then they all said "Get well soon Ms Aysu." =)
(It's nice to see them being kind in English)
The rest of the lesson went very quiet. For the first time
in my teaching life I literally did not speak at all -reducing my TTT to zero
level while thinking my lovely CELTA tutor.
In one of my 3rd grade class we were to do a
listening lesson, which I felt lucky! I wrote some of the instructions on
board, and did some miming, and asked them what they could do with the
task. I don't know if it is because we are almost at the end of the academic
year or they love me more, but they were more focused than before. They tried
to read my mouth for the answers or instructions.
Then I had an epiphany : I don't need to be loud in a
Turkish classroom! So I decided to use this "silent talking" more and
turn it into a game -maybe. I think I can say the vocabulary without a sound,
for example, and they can try to guess. More words mean more points.
In this way I ended up with the idea that the louder the
teacher speaks, the louder the kids will get. When I calmed myself down, the
kids became more quiet +.+
P.S:Have you heard "The Silent Way"? It was
developed by Caleb Gattegno in 1960 to leave all the speaking to the learners.
I wasn't using that method, but I immediately thought of that.
( You can find out more from here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Way )
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