Bonus: "What If They Just. Won’t. Talk?"
Ever wonder what to do when your students just won’t talk in your world language classroom?
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In this episode of Comprehend THIS!, we dive into the universal teacher struggle: student silence. You’ll learn why forcing output usually backfires, how to build student confidence through comprehensible input, and three practical strategies to gently coax participation without pressure. Plus, we’ll cover what not to take personally when your students sit in stone-faced silence. If you’ve ever felt like you’re teaching into the void, this episode will give you laughs, reassurance, and real classroom strategies to keep your sanity intact.
#WorldLanguageTeaching, #ComprehensibleInput, #LanguageAcquisition, #LanguageTeachingTips, #CIClassroom, #LanguageTeachers, #StudentEngagement, #SecondLanguageAcquisition, #TeachingStrategies, #ComprehendTHISPodcast
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- Scott Benedict - https://www.instagram.com/immediateimmersion
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Transcript
Good morning and
Speaker:welcome to today's podcast.
Speaker:How's everybody doing this morning?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Let's talk about the elephant in the room
Speaker:or rather the 20 elephants sitting
Speaker:silently in your classroom,
Speaker:pretending they don't
Speaker:understand basic human language.
Speaker:You ask a question, they stare at you
Speaker:like you've just spoken Klingon.
Speaker:Sound familiar?
Speaker:Today we're tackling the question every
Speaker:teacher secretly screams in their head.
Speaker:What if they just won't talk?
Speaker:Spoiler alert, forcing them to open their
Speaker:mouths works about as well as forcing a
Speaker:cat to wear pants.
Speaker:So let's figure out a smarter, saner way
Speaker:to handle the silence.
Speaker:We'll be right back in just a moment.
Speaker:Ever feel like you're clinging to the
Speaker:edge of your teacher planner,
Speaker:just hoping today's lesson magically
Speaker:appears? Enter the CI survival kit,
Speaker:a monthly membership made for teachers
Speaker:who love comprehensible input,
Speaker:but also love not reinventing the wheel
Speaker:every Sunday night. Each month,
Speaker:you get fresh, ready to use
Speaker:lessons, time saving tools,
Speaker:and just enough structure to keep your
Speaker:teaching life together. No stress,
Speaker:no guilt, just monthly
Speaker:help from someone who gets it.
Speaker:Sign up at mm.us slash survival and let
Speaker:the survival kit do the heavy
Speaker:lifting for once.
Speaker:Welcome to comprehend this real talk for
Speaker:real language teachers.
Speaker:No drills, no dry
Speaker:theory, just honest stories,
Speaker:practical ideas, and a reminder you're
Speaker:not alone in the CI trenches.
Speaker:Let's dive in.
Speaker:And welcome back today
Speaker:is solo week. Uh, every,
Speaker:about every four weeks I do a solo one
Speaker:instead of having
Speaker:guests and that's today.
Speaker:So let's go ahead and continue with our
Speaker:talking about kids who just
Speaker:won't speak in class. So, you know,
Speaker:the awkward turtle lives in every
Speaker:classroom. Let's face it,
Speaker:silence in your class isn't a referendum
Speaker:on your teaching skills.
Speaker:Sometimes kids are just tired.
Speaker:They're hungry or they're practicing for
Speaker:a career in competitive mind
Speaker:translation. Don't panic.
Speaker:Don't take it personally and please don't
Speaker:start juggling markers
Speaker:just to fill the dead air.
Speaker:We want to normalize the
Speaker:student silence because it's not
Speaker:about you.
Speaker:And what I usually like to
Speaker:say when kids are being silent,
Speaker:it's because they don't have the
Speaker:confidence to be able
Speaker:to say what they want to
Speaker:be able to say. And so we need to work on
Speaker:building the comp, uh,
Speaker:the confidence input is like a funnel.
Speaker:So think of it like a funnel where all
Speaker:this input is coming in at the
Speaker:wide part of the funnel.
Speaker:And then out the
Speaker:bottom trickles droplets of
Speaker:actually talking of output.
Speaker:And so we need to think about that.
Speaker:We need to flood their
Speaker:brains with so much input
Speaker:that their confidence is up
Speaker:and their ability is there to
Speaker:actually produce. So
Speaker:that's what you need to work on.
Speaker:Making kids feel comfortable in the
Speaker:classroom, making mistakes,
Speaker:um, a learning, uh, lost my words, um,
Speaker:a learning opportunity for them.
Speaker:So they're not feeling bad when they make
Speaker:a mistake that they're actually just
Speaker:working really,
Speaker:really well and learning at their own
Speaker:pace. Think of babies.
Speaker:Babies don't just flood
Speaker:out the output right away.
Speaker:They get tons and tons and
Speaker:tons years of input before
Speaker:the language starts coming
Speaker:out. And let's be honest,
Speaker:teenagers could win Olympic medals in
Speaker:stone faced silence if
Speaker:it were a sport.
Speaker:So the takeaway here is just don't panic.
Speaker:Don't take it personally.
Speaker:And for the love of everything,
Speaker:CI don't start doing
Speaker:standup comedy just to
Speaker:fill the silence.
Speaker:Continue using your input.
Speaker:Trust the process. It
Speaker:will come out. I always say,
Speaker:I know everybody says, you know,
Speaker:kids should always be speaking in the
Speaker:target language. But again,
Speaker:for me, it's that there's this confidence
Speaker:when they're not speaking in the
Speaker:target language,
Speaker:it's because they don't think that they
Speaker:have the skill or the ability or the
Speaker:confidence to do so.
Speaker:So my thing is I can only control my
Speaker:language usage in the
Speaker:class. So I try to speak only Spanish or
Speaker:whatever language you're teaching
Speaker:in the classroom.
Speaker:And then when the kids feel confidence
Speaker:and comfortable enough,
Speaker:then they'll start producing as well.
Speaker:Next, why forced output backfires?
Speaker:Yeah, sure. You can do it,
Speaker:but everyone's going to end up resentful
Speaker:and possibly scratched.
Speaker:Do you remember those times when you were
Speaker:in language class and your teachers
Speaker:like complete sentence, you need to have
Speaker:a complete sentence.
Speaker:I need you to speak right now
Speaker:and putting you on the spot.
Speaker:The effective filter was way up. That
Speaker:stress was way up. And let's be honest.
Speaker:We don't speak in complete sentences. We
Speaker:write in complete sentences.
Speaker:But when we're having conversations, we
Speaker:don't speak in complete sentence.
Speaker:It's awkward. And that was
Speaker:forced output. And you know,
Speaker:it made us feel icky.
Speaker:Students need tons of
Speaker:that input before words even
Speaker:start to spill out naturally.
Speaker:We need to think less
Speaker:interrogation spotlight and more
Speaker:Netflix binge with subtitles.
Speaker:So what I do is I'm always
Speaker:talking in the classroom.
Speaker:I'm always asking
Speaker:questions in the classroom.
Speaker:And I do a lot of
Speaker:interviews with students.
Speaker:I don't put my students on
Speaker:the spotlight. I don't do that.
Speaker:I don't have them come
Speaker:to the front of the room.
Speaker:They sit where they are going to sit.
Speaker:And I am really bad at
Speaker:keeping my words all.
Speaker:And I forgot the phrase that they use.
Speaker:Inbounds. Sorry.
Speaker:Ever since COVID, my mind
Speaker:has gone completely gone.
Speaker:Anyway, inbounds. I've never done that.
Speaker:How I combat that though, is I write all
Speaker:the translations of those out
Speaker:of bound words on the board.
Speaker:And I find that my kids grow
Speaker:exponentially because of that.
Speaker:When I limit it too
Speaker:tightly, they don't really grow.
Speaker:And so that's how I kind
Speaker:of do those types of things.
Speaker:But I'm not pushing output.
Speaker:I'm good with one word answers.
Speaker:I'm good with yes or no.
Speaker:And if it's a more complex question like,
Speaker:what did you do over the weekend?
Speaker:And they said I went, they
Speaker:just said like, Fui Artine.
Speaker:And then they started
Speaker:explaining it in English.
Speaker:I'm good with that in the beginning.
Speaker:And then I start I'll put the stuff what
Speaker:they said in the target language.
Speaker:And then we'll ask questions
Speaker:about that to get it going.
Speaker:But I'm OK with that because
Speaker:it tells me it's an assessment.
Speaker:It's an on the spot formative assessments
Speaker:telling me they're not comfortable enough
Speaker:with the language that
Speaker:they have to be able to speak.
Speaker:And that's OK.
Speaker:And when you push out
Speaker:output way too soon.
Speaker:That makes stress.
Speaker:That's going to create resistance and
Speaker:that's going to create fake language.
Speaker:That's going to create where they're
Speaker:going to start making up
Speaker:words to be able to speak it.
Speaker:And that's not what
Speaker:we want to have happen.
Speaker:A funny comparison.
Speaker:It's like making your cat wear a sweater.
Speaker:It's possible, but now
Speaker:both of you are hating life.
Speaker:So we want more input first.
Speaker:I don't even ask my kids to do any really
Speaker:speaking activities, any true speaking
Speaker:activities until the third month on a
Speaker:traditional school year.
Speaker:Or if you're on a four by four where you
Speaker:teach one class per
Speaker:semester, that's about five
Speaker:weeks. That's kind of how I do it.
Speaker:I'm on that four by four.
Speaker:So my Spanish one goes
Speaker:from August to December.
Speaker:And then in the fifth week of school,
Speaker:which will be coming up
Speaker:like the second week of
Speaker:September, I'll start having
Speaker:them do some output activities.
Speaker:So we want to make sure we have that more
Speaker:input first and output later.
Speaker:That's how acquisition works.
Speaker:Think about it like a
Speaker:baby for about 18 months.
Speaker:They're getting nothing but input.
Speaker:You're talking to them.
Speaker:You're exploring the world with them.
Speaker:You're reading with them.
Speaker:And then around 18 months to two years,
Speaker:the words start to
Speaker:slowly come out at first.
Speaker:They're just words.
Speaker:They're not sentences.
Speaker:They're not paragraphs and they slowly
Speaker:build more language
Speaker:as they get more input.
Speaker:And that's what we
Speaker:need to really focus on.
Speaker:Confidence is built, not assigned.
Speaker:And this is a big one for me.
Speaker:Confidence, I never
Speaker:really thought about it before.
Speaker:I never really thought about it before.
Speaker:I had this experience in
Speaker:Germany a couple of years ago,
Speaker:but it really does play a
Speaker:large part of what we do.
Speaker:It plays a huge part in what we do.
Speaker:And that's really, really important.
Speaker:So let me tell you a story.
Speaker:Again, Covid mind going everywhere today.
Speaker:A couple of years ago, I was in Germany
Speaker:and I went to go buy a water bottle
Speaker:in one of those kiosks on the side of the
Speaker:street that they have.
Speaker:So I was going to buy one and
Speaker:I knew it's going to be what?
Speaker:Two euros, something like that around two
Speaker:dollars, somewhere around that.
Speaker:And I pulled out my cash.
Speaker:And my cash, I always was taught, you
Speaker:know, you have your bills put in order.
Speaker:So large, the medium and small
Speaker:denominations, you put them in order.
Speaker:And so I pulled out my my cash and I was
Speaker:getting ready to look for a small bill.
Speaker:But what was on the
Speaker:outside was a large bill.
Speaker:And the German guy started yelling at me
Speaker:in German that he wanted a smaller bill.
Speaker:I needed a small bill.
Speaker:He couldn't have a big bill.
Speaker:And I was like, I wasn't
Speaker:even giving him a big bill.
Speaker:But because he was yelling at me and kind
Speaker:of getting a little aggressive, I was
Speaker:getting really flustered and my
Speaker:confidence went way down
Speaker:and I lost all my German.
Speaker:So it was really difficult to make that
Speaker:transaction because of that.
Speaker:And so at that moment, I made the
Speaker:realization that our kids are somewhat in
Speaker:the same way when they're put on the spot
Speaker:and they're not expecting it.
Speaker:And it's not something that's routinely
Speaker:done in the classroom.
Speaker:Their confidence is going to go way down
Speaker:and they're not going
Speaker:to be able to produce
Speaker:anything. So it needs to be made a habit.
Speaker:It needs to be built slowly.
Speaker:Your classroom needs to be
Speaker:a comfortable place to stay
Speaker:and speak and to make mistakes because
Speaker:students won't
Speaker:suddenly feel confident just
Speaker:because your lesson
Speaker:plan says now they speak.
Speaker:We need to build that confidence.
Speaker:And it's not something
Speaker:we can build overnight.
Speaker:It's something that we
Speaker:have to build slowly.
Speaker:And the more input that they hear, the
Speaker:more they'll start realizing,
Speaker:oh, hey, I actually get this because
Speaker:confidence grows quietly.
Speaker:Like the random plants in your classroom.
Speaker:Nobody remembers watering.
Speaker:Students need the massive input, that
Speaker:funnel idea to feel like,
Speaker:oh, hey, I can actually do this.
Speaker:And the more input that they get, the
Speaker:more exposure, the
Speaker:more your classroom is a
Speaker:relaxed place where
Speaker:mistakes are honored, not shameful.
Speaker:Then the confidence is
Speaker:going to sneak up on them.
Speaker:And it's going to be like that random
Speaker:classroom plant that somehow didn't die.
Speaker:And so your job as a teacher, as a
Speaker:facilitator of language,
Speaker:is to load their brains with
Speaker:comprehensible input in
Speaker:every different way that you can.
Speaker:You want to vary it.
Speaker:We've got stories, we've got picture
Speaker:talks, we've got movie talks.
Speaker:You can find short videos, short
Speaker:podcasts, all these different types of
Speaker:comprehensible input that you can do
Speaker:until those words start spilling out
Speaker:naturally. That's our goal.
Speaker:That's only going to happen
Speaker:when you have tons of output.
Speaker:We need to not look at kids silence as
Speaker:the refusal to speak,
Speaker:but that they don't have the confidence
Speaker:in their ability to speak.
Speaker:So we need to boost that
Speaker:up in any way that we can.
Speaker:So
Speaker:here are some gentle nudges.
Speaker:Think of them like your Jedi mind tricks
Speaker:that you can take to help students become
Speaker:more confident, become more comfortable
Speaker:and get a little bit more
Speaker:output out there.
Speaker:So first, a low stakes pair chat.
Speaker:Let them whisper to a buddy first.
Speaker:It feels less like a Broadway audition
Speaker:and it is a very low key way for kids to
Speaker:actually practice and utilize their
Speaker:skills. It's stressless.
Speaker:It's with their peers, their whispering.
Speaker:So nobody else is listening and it really
Speaker:works well to boost their confidence and
Speaker:lower that effective
Speaker:filter, lower that stress level.
Speaker:And that's what we want to actually do.
Speaker:Another strategy is coral response
Speaker:because they can hide in that coral
Speaker:response because everyone answers
Speaker:together and there's no spotlight on one
Speaker:particular student,
Speaker:there's no strange fright.
Speaker:None of that happens.
Speaker:I use a lot of core responses,
Speaker:especially in level one at
Speaker:the beginning of the year.
Speaker:I'm not putting any kid on the spot
Speaker:because I want to build that confidence.
Speaker:And then in those coral
Speaker:responses, I'm listening.
Speaker:I'm listening for strong responses.
Speaker:I'm listening for weak
Speaker:responses so that I can actually
Speaker:take that formative
Speaker:assessment to where my kids are.
Speaker:And then the kids who do speak with more
Speaker:confidence, with more loudness, then I
Speaker:know those kids are ready for individual
Speaker:questions, but I don't just start
Speaker:randomly calling out.
Speaker:And I'm keeping note of who my weaker
Speaker:students are so that I can use them to
Speaker:gauge my instruction.
Speaker:And again, with lower levels or anybody
Speaker:who lack the confidence,
Speaker:we want to start with yes, no, or either
Speaker:or questions because
Speaker:those are really easy
Speaker:to answer.
Speaker:Those are really they can build
Speaker:confidence because the
Speaker:answer is right there with them.
Speaker:They're not having to think on their own
Speaker:and coming up with a sentence.
Speaker:They can either say yes, they can say no,
Speaker:or you've given them two choices.
Speaker:And this is where my little phrase, ask
Speaker:the right question to the right student
Speaker:at the right time, comes in.
Speaker:My more capable students, I'm going to
Speaker:ask my who, what, where, when, how, why
Speaker:questions. My mid level students and my
Speaker:lower students, I'm going to stick with
Speaker:yes, no, either or.
Speaker:The how and the why
Speaker:definitely are advanced
Speaker:questions because they
Speaker:require more language.
Speaker:My who, what, where, when questions.
Speaker:So it's going to be my upper mid level
Speaker:kids because they can be answered in one
Speaker:word or in a short phrase.
Speaker:But for my lower mid and my lower kids,
Speaker:it's yes, no, either or.
Speaker:So I need to know my kids so that I can
Speaker:actually ask those questions
Speaker:at the right time for them.
Speaker:Because whenever I ask a question of a
Speaker:student, I want to be confident that that
Speaker:student can answer it correctly because I
Speaker:don't want to make
Speaker:them look dumb in front
Speaker:of their peers. And so this really,
Speaker:really helps with that.
Speaker:So learning which where my kids are.
Speaker:And then I can ask them
Speaker:the particular question.
Speaker:And if my kid is really, really
Speaker:struggling, really struggling.
Speaker:I'll give them hints that the
Speaker:other kids won't even notice.
Speaker:So like if it's an either or question and
Speaker:the answers are on the board,
Speaker:I'm going to put my hand
Speaker:right under the right answer.
Speaker:Now, the top kids aren't even going to
Speaker:notice I'm doing
Speaker:that, but my lower kids do
Speaker:because they're always looking around the
Speaker:room to use their resources and they
Speaker:have that skill built in.
Speaker:So then they're going to take that hit
Speaker:and they're going to look successful and
Speaker:smart in front of their peers. If it's a
Speaker:yes or no question, then I'm going to
Speaker:stick my thumb in the proper
Speaker:position and hold it there.
Speaker:And I know that my top kids don't notice
Speaker:these cues because have you
Speaker:ever been in the classroom where
Speaker:we're going over you're going over a quiz
Speaker:or an assignment and then the top kids go
Speaker:don't get the answer right and the lower
Speaker:kids do get the answer right.
Speaker:And the lower kid goes, well, it's on the
Speaker:board, dummy, or it's on the wall because
Speaker:you have a poster about that, and that's
Speaker:because the top kids aren't used to
Speaker:clinging to those resources
Speaker:to survive in the classroom.
Speaker:And your lower to mid students are
Speaker:they're always looking
Speaker:for things that they can
Speaker:use to get them out of any situation.
Speaker:So they're hyper aware of all the
Speaker:resources around them.
Speaker:And so that really, really works well.
Speaker:So when you do give them questions, give
Speaker:them choices so they can't just shrug.
Speaker:And say they don't know, they need to be
Speaker:able to know and they can when you give
Speaker:them a yes or no or an either or.
Speaker:So those are three simple tips,
Speaker:strategies to start them small.
Speaker:You've got your low stakes pair chat.
Speaker:Whispering to a buddy is so much easier
Speaker:than a Broadway solo.
Speaker:You've got your choral response.
Speaker:Whole class answers, safety in numbers.
Speaker:And then you've got your yes, no or
Speaker:either or questions to keep the choices
Speaker:simple and impossible to fail.
Speaker:Add humor because nothing motivates
Speaker:students like the chance to be correct
Speaker:with just one syllable.
Speaker:So you want to make sure you
Speaker:can add some humor in there.
Speaker:I'm always looking for the funny because
Speaker:when people are laughing,
Speaker:they're more relaxed.
Speaker:And our last point for
Speaker:today, what's not about you?
Speaker:Their silence isn't proof that they hate
Speaker:Spanish, French, German,
Speaker:mandarin, your haircut, your clothing.
Speaker:Sometimes they just had a breakup.
Speaker:They forgot lunch or busy perfecting the
Speaker:art of the teenager face.
Speaker:So the pro tip here, shrug it off, keep
Speaker:the input flowing and trust the process.
Speaker:Words will come eventually and hopefully
Speaker:not all at once in the hallway after the
Speaker:bell. Silence is not
Speaker:that rejection of you,
Speaker:your teacher, your
Speaker:subject or your outfit.
Speaker:Sometimes kids are just hungry.
Speaker:They're tired.
Speaker:They're heartbroken.
Speaker:They're stressed or
Speaker:they're just being teens.
Speaker:So think to yourself,
Speaker:little teacher mantra.
Speaker:It's not me. It's puberty.
Speaker:It's not me.
Speaker:It's puberty.
Speaker:Think this out over and over.
Speaker:But if you make your
Speaker:classroom a safe place, a fun place,
Speaker:a place where it's OK to laugh, where
Speaker:it's OK to be yourself,
Speaker:your kids will eventually be able to
Speaker:speak and speak with confidence.
Speaker:So you want to keep
Speaker:delivering that input.
Speaker:Smile through that silence
Speaker:and trust that output will come
Speaker:probably at the worst possible time, like
Speaker:during a fire drill, but it will come.
Speaker:So there we have it.
Speaker:That's a wrap on today.
Speaker:Thanks for tuning in and
Speaker:hanging out with me today.
Speaker:I realize it's not as
Speaker:interesting when it's just me.
Speaker:So I appreciate you letting me rant about
Speaker:this glorious joy of students who just
Speaker:won't talk.
Speaker:And hopefully you're walking away with a
Speaker:few strategies to keep your sanity intact
Speaker:and maybe even coax a word or two out of
Speaker:your class without breaking into
Speaker:interpretive dance.
Speaker:So do me a solid.
Speaker:Hit that subscribe button.
Speaker:In fact, I forgot to
Speaker:even put it up here today.
Speaker:Why can't get that in there?
Speaker:Hit that subscribe button.
Speaker:Leave a quick review and share this
Speaker:episode with another teacher who deserves
Speaker:to know they're not alone in this circus
Speaker:we call language teaching.
Speaker:Remember, you can always join us live on
Speaker:YouTube or catch the replay later on your
Speaker:favorite podcast app.
Speaker:Ditch the drills, trust the process, and
Speaker:I'll see you the next time on Comprehend
Speaker:This. Have a good weekend, everybody.
