You don’t avoid it. Students need time to process. Say something. Pause. Repeat it using a few different words or same words. Pause.
When speaking if you expect answers, wait. Give them time to think and then reply.
They don’t know the answer or are shy. If you’re confident most should know, have them think pair share and then present. If they don’t know the material, it’s time to go over it again.
Can you give a little more context? Quiet isn’t always bad.
Give them 5 seconds to process. They need to figure out: 1) What you said, 2) That it requires a response, and 3) How to respond.
I find 5 seconds is enough. If they don’t speak before that, I move on/help them.
If there’s too much dead air, there may be some more serious problems. It’s important you make sure that you’re speaking at a level they understand. It’s also important that you make sure they have the language to answer. It doesn’t matter if they understand, “what did you get for Christmas?” if they don’t know the vocab for what they got.
Another tip is to follow the “individual -> group -> class” pattern. Let the students figure out their own answers, then put them into groups to share, then share some of the better answers as a class.
Finally, as for dead time while you’re setting something up… Set it up before class? Or, going off the above tip, set it up while they’re doing work in groups.
Depends on your role, your students age and level, etc. but:
Teacher preparation: have your lesson planned and all materials etc. ready
Student training: train your students to follow common instructions and how to do common activities. Taking a couple of lessons to train them will save hours over the course of a year.
Expectations and consistency: have an idea of your expectations for the class and be consistent in applying them.
Don’t introduce new activities every class: use the same activities with different content. This saves you having to waste time explaining them.
Model activities and answers: give students a model of what you want them to do. If they can see what is expected they will find it easier to do it and understand.
Connection with students: be calm, clear, friendly, interesting and students will want to participate actively.
Repeat, rephrase, ask a strong student, translate, ask single students directly, seek answers one word at a time… ?
Keep very close track of your class length. Know exactly how much time, minimum, each section of your lesson needs. Then, give that time to your students. If they’re working on English, then it’s not “dead air” even if you aren’t speaking. (If they’re not working on English, then the issue is with Engagement, not silence. ) If an activity is going well, you can let it run long, so long as you make sure every other section of the lesson still has time to be completed. Students will be demoralized and annoyed if you try and cram a lesson into too short a time.
its like when ur studying japanese conversation. you’re thinking like hell, but the teachers all uncomfortable waiting for 5 minutes. give them time. it’s inconvenient for higher level students waiting for them to stop processing and start saying something, but as teachers we should just be quiet and help formulate their sentences when they’ve started
“okay, while im preparing, tell the person next to you your favorite ___ and when you’re done, tell a different person what the first person’s favorite _____ is”
“Split into partners or threes, get out some scratch paper, and have your partner describe their favorite food, animal, drink, place to eat, etc without saying what it is. See how long it takes you, then change roles.”
Just little things like that, or something weird like take 3 minutes to rank your three favorite movies with a reason for each. We’ll have a short discussion of it when I’m done preparing.
You have to let silence wash over sometimes to let people think about what you’ve said. It’s why any public speaker is careful and measured about where they place pauses to let what they have said sink in.
Now if you’re talking about dead air while students wait for an activity, that’s all down to preparation and sequencing such that the students are not waiting. For example, having the handouts prepped in advance, knowing where your flashcards are, getting the projector set up before the lesson begins or at least before you want to use it.
What do you mean by dead air?
If you mean the silence from a class of students you just became acquainted with then that’s natural. There tends to be a quiet period. Sometimes it`s over in a day but I’ve also seen it last months depending on the student’s previous experiences with English teachers or English classes in general.
If you mean between activities or during S->T time, it’s best to give them tasks to do during those transition periods or activities. Ask the students to help you set up or ask them what they think you should do next. Sometimes it’s also a good idea to let a student lead the activity from time to time. Eventually, other students will want to do it too.
Indirect positive reinforcement works too. Praising and shining a light on students who participate. Students like the attention and some of them will start participating more because they also want to be praised for something, no matter how simple that is.
Now if you mean dead air after you ask a question, sometimes students take a bit of time to respond. I recommend making lessons a multi-sensory activity. Associate a sound/smell/gesture/color/etc with the vocabulary or phrase, so when the study forgets what they should say you can gently give them indirect tips. I found this helps boost the student’s retention and confidence without giving away the answers all the time. They feel like they came to the answer on their own and that makes them feel more confident over time.
For research on silence and possible positive affects of it, I suggest reading Dat Bao’s research. Seiko Harumi, Jim King, and Kate Maher all have done research on Japanese university students.
12 comments
You don’t avoid it. Students need time to process. Say something. Pause. Repeat it using a few different words or same words. Pause.
When speaking if you expect answers, wait. Give them time to think and then reply.
They don’t know the answer or are shy. If you’re confident most should know, have them think pair share and then present. If they don’t know the material, it’s time to go over it again.
Can you give a little more context? Quiet isn’t always bad.
Give them 5 seconds to process. They need to figure out: 1) What you said, 2) That it requires a response, and 3) How to respond.
I find 5 seconds is enough. If they don’t speak before that, I move on/help them.
If there’s too much dead air, there may be some more serious problems. It’s important you make sure that you’re speaking at a level they understand. It’s also important that you make sure they have the language to answer. It doesn’t matter if they understand, “what did you get for Christmas?” if they don’t know the vocab for what they got.
Another tip is to follow the “individual -> group -> class” pattern. Let the students figure out their own answers, then put them into groups to share, then share some of the better answers as a class.
Finally, as for dead time while you’re setting something up… Set it up before class? Or, going off the above tip, set it up while they’re doing work in groups.
Depends on your role, your students age and level, etc. but:
Teacher preparation: have your lesson planned and all materials etc. ready
Student training: train your students to follow common instructions and how to do common activities. Taking a couple of lessons to train them will save hours over the course of a year.
Expectations and consistency: have an idea of your expectations for the class and be consistent in applying them.
Don’t introduce new activities every class: use the same activities with different content. This saves you having to waste time explaining them.
Model activities and answers: give students a model of what you want them to do. If they can see what is expected they will find it easier to do it and understand.
Connection with students: be calm, clear, friendly, interesting and students will want to participate actively.
Repeat, rephrase, ask a strong student, translate, ask single students directly, seek answers one word at a time… ?
Keep very close track of your class length. Know exactly how much time, minimum, each section of your lesson needs. Then, give that time to your students. If they’re working on English, then it’s not “dead air” even if you aren’t speaking. (If they’re not working on English, then the issue is with Engagement, not silence. ) If an activity is going well, you can let it run long, so long as you make sure every other section of the lesson still has time to be completed. Students will be demoralized and annoyed if you try and cram a lesson into too short a time.
its like when ur studying japanese conversation. you’re thinking like hell, but the teachers all uncomfortable waiting for 5 minutes. give them time. it’s inconvenient for higher level students waiting for them to stop processing and start saying something, but as teachers we should just be quiet and help formulate their sentences when they’ve started
“okay, while im preparing, tell the person next to you your favorite ___ and when you’re done, tell a different person what the first person’s favorite _____ is”
“Split into partners or threes, get out some scratch paper, and have your partner describe their favorite food, animal, drink, place to eat, etc without saying what it is. See how long it takes you, then change roles.”
Just little things like that, or something weird like take 3 minutes to rank your three favorite movies with a reason for each. We’ll have a short discussion of it when I’m done preparing.
To paraphrase the [great brass artist Doug Levinson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha7smLPz2GY), “A teacher respects the silence, it serves the foundation of learning.”
You have to let silence wash over sometimes to let people think about what you’ve said. It’s why any public speaker is careful and measured about where they place pauses to let what they have said sink in.
Now if you’re talking about dead air while students wait for an activity, that’s all down to preparation and sequencing such that the students are not waiting. For example, having the handouts prepped in advance, knowing where your flashcards are, getting the projector set up before the lesson begins or at least before you want to use it.
What do you mean by dead air?
If you mean the silence from a class of students you just became acquainted with then that’s natural. There tends to be a quiet period. Sometimes it`s over in a day but I’ve also seen it last months depending on the student’s previous experiences with English teachers or English classes in general.
If you mean between activities or during S->T time, it’s best to give them tasks to do during those transition periods or activities. Ask the students to help you set up or ask them what they think you should do next. Sometimes it’s also a good idea to let a student lead the activity from time to time. Eventually, other students will want to do it too.
Indirect positive reinforcement works too. Praising and shining a light on students who participate. Students like the attention and some of them will start participating more because they also want to be praised for something, no matter how simple that is.
Now if you mean dead air after you ask a question, sometimes students take a bit of time to respond. I recommend making lessons a multi-sensory activity. Associate a sound/smell/gesture/color/etc with the vocabulary or phrase, so when the study forgets what they should say you can gently give them indirect tips. I found this helps boost the student’s retention and confidence without giving away the answers all the time. They feel like they came to the answer on their own and that makes them feel more confident over time.
For research on silence and possible positive affects of it, I suggest reading Dat Bao’s research. Seiko Harumi, Jim King, and Kate Maher all have done research on Japanese university students.