I teach English to a group of first-year high school students. All are very keen to learn English. One girl, however, answers questions in Chinese. Her fellow students remind her to speak English. I have asked her to repeat her answer in English. She laughs and then answers in English. How can I persuade this student to speak English while in my class?
Education consultant Florence Robertson replies:
You will need to remind this student constantly about the importance of speaking only English while in your class. It is good that her peers remind her to do so. Try to talk to this student privately to find out why she speaks Chinese when she knows it is an English class. It could be that she gets excited or nervous and resorts to her first language in order to answer the question quickly.
When you realise that she is not speaking Chinese to annoy you or to make the other students laugh, try to help her to change to speaking English.
Invite her to suggest ways that would help her to speak only English in the class. Encourage her to give you ideas that will help her to speak English rather than your telling her what to do.
Discuss methods that would motivate her to speak English. You might suggest that before she answers a question, she reminds herself first to answer in English.