My Life! Teaching in a Korean University

  • ESL Korea
  • Teaching English
  • ESL Activities
  • Learning English

in Life in the Classroom

Graded Language and Why English Teachers Should Use It

Graded Language-avoid the deer in headlights

What’s graded language? It’s talking more slowly, and using simpler language when you’re talking to someone who doesn’t speak English as their first language. That’s the basics. Keep on reading for more details about it, and why you should be using it.

English Teachers: Why are you not using graded language?

Recently, I’ve had an opportunity to witness two university teachers in Korea interacting with students in a small-group setting and what I saw left me shaking my head in disbelief.

Even though the students were at a low-intermediate level, the teachers made no attempt whatsoever to grade their language. Like seriously, no attempt and they were talking to the students the same way they would talk to me.

The students? Like deer in the headlights. No sort of comprehension or understanding and just nervous laughter in response.

While some people say, “It’s the real world and they should just get used to it,” I tend to disagree. Learning a language is a process and while advanced students might need this, beginners and intermediate students need input that is comprehensible. That is, they can understand at least 50% of it.

You can grade your language in 2 ways:

1. Speed

Just use whatever grammar/vocabulary you want, but speak more slowly. Also use…pauses…to allow for some thinking time.

The lower the level, the slower you should talk. For advanced students, a normal speaking speed will be appropriate.

2.Difficulty, in terms of grammar/vocabulary

Make it simpler for lower-level students and more difficult for higher-level ones.

However, avoid doing what some foreign teachers do and drop articles, or use incorrect grammar. This does not help our students!

Deer in Headlights

These two teachers didn’t grade in terms of speed or difficulty and talked to the students in the same way they would have talked to me, were I alone.

The result is that the students had the “deer in headlights” look in their eyes and had no idea how to interject any comment into the “conversation.” The result was the teacher perhaps felt awkward and then just kept talking, and talking, and talking and ended up making the situation even more terrible because instead of the 1 minute monologue the students didn’t understand, it had now been upgraded to a 3 minute monologue. And it kept going.

It was painful to watch. And I’m sure the students weren’t loving it.

Learn More About Grading your Language Here

Check out this short video:

Look deeply in your student’s eyes…

Now, if the teacher had noticed the confused looks in her/his student’s eyes, she/he could have thought, “Wow! My students don’t know what I’m talking about right now” and then simplified/ summarized what she/he had just been saying.

Except, of course this wasn’t the case.

Over my years here, many Koreans have commented that they can easily understand my “accent.” It’s not the accent, it’s that I grade my language, but they don’t know how to say this. I adjust the way I talk depending on the level of the student I talk to, with my goal being that they can understand 80-90% of it. If they could understand 100%, it’s not really challenging or pushing them to improve their listening skills.

Graded language: Think about it!

Even more tips for making your ESL classes awesome. You’ll get ’em delivered straight to your inbox each week. I promise to respect your privacy and will never share your email with anyone for any reason:



What are your Thoughts about Using Graded Language in the ESL Classroom?

Do you do it, or do you think it’s more valuable for students to speak at normal speed? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think about this.

Also be sure to give this article a share on Twitter, Pinterest, or Facebook to help other teachers, like yourself find this useful teaching resource.

Games, Activities & ESL Teaching Tips

* indicates required

About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 15 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 30 books for English teachers and English learners, including Advanced English Conversation Dialogues and 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities for Teenagers and Adults. She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

You can find her on social media at:
Facebook
Pinterest

« Top 5 ESL Lesson Planning Sites | ESL Lesson Plans
Renewable Energy Lesson Plan for ESL Students: For Intermediate-Advanced »

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. What does this mean? I recommend products (only ones that I like) and if you purchase a product through that link, I earn some money.

67 ESL Conversation Topics with Questions, Vocabulary, Writing Prompts & More: For English Teachers...
67 ESL Conversation Topics with Questions, Vocabulary, Writing Prompts & More: For English Teachers...
Check Price on Amazon
39 ESL Warm-Ups: For Teachers of Teenagers and Adults who Want to Start Their English Classes Off...
39 ESL Warm-Ups: For Teachers of Teenagers and Adults who Want to Start Their English Classes Off...
Check Price on Amazon
39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities: For English Teachers of Teenagers and Adults Who Want...
39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities: For English Teachers of Teenagers and Adults Who Want...
Check Price on Amazon

More ESL Activities & Games

39 Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning Activities: A Very Practical Guide to Using TBL in the...
39 Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning Activities: A Very Practical Guide to Using TBL in the...
Check Price on Amazon

Recent Posts

  • ESL Sentence Making Games and Activities, Lesson Plans, Worksheets
  • English Grammar Games, Activities, Worksheets & Lesson Plans
  • ESL Phrasal Verbs Games, Activities, Worksheets & Lesson Plans
  • WH Questions ESL Activities and Games | ESL WH Question Ideas
101 Activities and Resources for Teaching English Online: Practical Ideas, Games, Activities & Tips...
101 Activities and Resources for Teaching English Online: Practical Ideas, Games, Activities & Tips...
Check Price on Amazon
Sale 101 ESL Activities: For Teenagers and Adults
101 ESL Activities: For Teenagers and Adults
Check Price on Amazon

About and Contact

Jackie Bolen has been talking ESL South Korea since 2014. The goal is to bring you the best tips, ideas, and news for everything teaching English in Korea, including university jobs.

Contact Jackie Bolen and My Life! Teaching in a Korean University here.

Email: [email protected]

Address: 2436 Kelly Ave, Port Coquitlam, Canada

Find the Privacy Policy here.

Facebook

Pinterest

TikTok

YouTube

LinkedIn

Best Seller

101 ESL Activities: Games, Activities, Practical ideas, & Teaching Tips For English Teachers of...
101 ESL Activities: Games, Activities, Practical ideas, & Teaching Tips For English Teachers of...
Check Price on Amazon

Search

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Advertise on My Life! Teaching in Korean University

Recent Articles

rote-memorization-vocabulary

Rote Memorization of Vocabulary | Teaching ESL Vocab

Student Autonomy with Self-Editing

Teaching Writing Strategies: Fostering Student Autonomy

Study-Tips

Study Tips to Learn English Faster: Become Fluent Quickly and Easily

teaching-esl-korea

10 Things I Love about Living and Teaching in South Korea

Copyright © 2022 Jackie Bolen + My Life! Teaching in a Korean University. All Rights Reserved.