Using Groupwork for Language Practice in the Primary School

Abstract

If you think the pupils do most of the talking, you are either an exceptionally good teacher, or a very optimistic one. Try it; get somebody to time you, or time a colleague giving a class. In nine cases out of ten, you will find that the teacher does most of the talking. And if you consider the amount spoken by any one pupil, the proportion becomes even more remarkable: if he is lucky, a pupil may utter one or two sentences by himself during one English lesson. Often he will not utter even one except in chorus.