Buckland Weekly #25: Do you understand?

As always the contents of this post are the opinion and experience of the author only and should not be taken as reflecting the official position of BIEG.

Do you understand?

I recently read an article on the internet about things you should always say to your class. Most of it I agreed with. You should always greet them at the start of the lesson. (I always begin with “Good morning/afternoon. How are you all today?” It's become a standing joke in some classes where the students will shout back in unison “We're so-so!”) You should always say goodbye. You should always offer praise and help where needed. Uncontentious stuff.

However it also suggested that you should frequently ask “Do you understand?” and there we part company because I firmly believe that, at least for the classes we teach, this is about the worst question you can ask.

Let's look at it from another angle, from the point of view not of a foreign English teacher or a student in a foreign English teacher's class, but as a student in one of their other classes. If you observe a Chinese teacher you will usually notice a few things straight away. First of all the pace of the lessons is breakneck with information being delivered at a breathless pace that must be leaving some of the students behind. Then you will notice that they style is mainly what in my day was called “chalk and talk”. The teacher writes stuff on the board and reads it out and the students copy it down. You may, depending on what subject it is, also observe that there is a lot of repetitive drilling with the whole class reciting either from their books or by repeating back things the teacher said. What you probably won't see is very much in the way of questions and answers with individual students. Even where a teacher does ask a question only a few students will be likely to answer and the answer will always be right. Students are very unwilling to give answers where they are not sure because, rightly or wrongly, they are afraid that a wrong answer will result in punishment. Minor punishment, perhaps in the form of additional homework, but punishment nonetheless.

In Chinese culture there is also the concept of “face” which is similar in some ways to respect. Similar in some ways but different in others. Giving a wrong answer, or an answer that is not the one the teacher wants, results in a loss of face for the student who perceives it as showing him as foolish.

So, when you ask “Do you understand?” the student perception of that question is that you want the answer “yes” and that's the answer you get. Whether the student understands or not the answer is “yes” because any other answer indicates that he hasn't been paying enough attention and might make you angry with him. It will also diminish him in the other students eyes.

Of course none of that is true but it is how it is seen. Initially, especially if you are the first foreign teacher they have had, you will need to work hard at convincing them that, in our subject at least, a wrong answer is better than no answer and that all that will happen is that you will help them to find the right answer.

So if you can't ask “Do you understand?, what can you ask. Let's look at an specific example.

Imagine that you have a class of sixty students that you have divided into ten groups of six. The task you have given them is to plan a birthday party. You have, both as spoken and written instructions, told them that they must decide on a date, a venue, a time, what food and drink to have, what music to play, what other things they will do at the party, who to invite. You have told them that they have 300 RMB to spend but that must buy everything they need including decorations if they want them.

You could then ask a few students “Do you understand?” but a far better strategy is to go quickly to each group and ask a few questions.

“What kind of party is it?”

“What will you have to buy?”

“How much do you have to spend?”

This is checking their understanding and also gives you specific information about any unclear areas. If several groups seem unclear about the same point pause the activity for a moment and explain that point (and only that point) again.

When you are sure the groups are on task walk around a little and listen, helping if you hear something that indicates a lack of understanding but otherwise just listening. When they seem to be almost there go round again with more specific questions.

“Have you decided where it will be? Yes? Where will it be?”

“How many people will you invite? Who will you invite?”

“What food will you have? Really? Do you think you have enough money?”

“What will yo do at the party? Why did you choose that?”

Then leave them to it for a few minutes and when you stop the activity, ask the same kind of questions from the front. Initially ask people who gave you good answers when you were going round because they will then act as models for the others. The spread it out more and ask people you didn't ask before. Get them to stand up and answer.

All tasks, however simple or complex can follow this pattern. Instructions (and perhaps demonstration), concept checking, monitoring, result checking, feedback.

And don't forget to throw in a few “well done” or “good work” comments as you go.

And that's about it and there remains just one more thing to say.

Do you understand?