Using a Variety of Interactions

Classroom Examples of Using a Variety of Interactions

To build ELL students’ language skills, classes should be structured so that students are interacting with one another as well as with the teacher. ELL students benefit greatly from cooperative learning experiences and work more efficiently with a buddy or in a small group. Interactions should include pairs; small groups (heterogeneous or homogeneous by gender, language proficiency, language background, and/or ability); and teacher-to-student, student-to-teacher, and whole-class interactions. Teachers should encourage elaborated responses from students.

Think-Pair-Share
Ellen Douglas suggests using this technique to ease students into material that may be complex or written at a level of some difficulty for them. Have students read a passage by themselves, read in pairs, or listen as you read the material aloud to them. At an appropriate point, pose a question about the text and have them think for a moment to themselves, then share their ideas with a partner. After a moment or two of discussion, the pair can share their ideas with the class. This technique works well with ELLs because it allows them to formulate their ideas on their own, test them out in a non-threatening way with their partners, and then, reinforced by their partner’s feedback, share the ideas with the class.

[K-12 Teaching and Learning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education]
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/724

Three-Step Interview
Common as an ice-breaker or a team-building exercise, this structure can also be used also to share information such as hypotheses or reactions to a film or article. Students form dyads; one student interviews the other. Next, students switch roles. Then, the dyad links with a second dyad. Finally, this four-member learning team discusses the information or insights gleaned from the initial paired interviews.
http://www.gdrc.org/kmgmt/c-learn/strategies.html

Simple Jigsaw
The faculty member divides an assignment or topic into four parts with all students from each learning team volunteering to become "experts" on one of the parts. Expert teams then work together to master their fourth of the material and also to discover the best way to help others learn it. All experts then reassemble in their home learning teams, where they teach the other group members.
http://www.gdrc.org/kmgmt/c-learn/strategies.html

Numbered Heads Together
Members of learning teams, usually composed of four individuals, count off: 1, 2, 3, or 4. The instructor poses a question, usually factual in nature, but requiring some higher order thinking skills. Students discuss the question, making certain that every group member knows the agreed upon answer. The instructor calls a specific number and the team members originally designated that number during the count off respond as group spokespersons. Because no one knows which number the teacher will call, all team members have a vested interest in understanding the appropriate response. Again, students benefit from the verbalization, and the peer coaching helps both the high and the low achievers. Class time is usually better spent because less time is wasted on inappropriate responses and because all students become active participants.
http://www.gdrc.org/kmgmt/c-learn/strategies.html