Increasing Talk Time in World Language Classes

Teachers can experiment with a variety of strategies to build and assess students’ ability to converse in the target language.

At the middle school where I teach, my colleagues and I stand in the hallways to supervise students’ transition from one class to the next. The kids squeeze in as much conversation as possible in the four minutes between bells. Because we are a dual language immersion (DLI) school, these exchanges happen in Spanish, English, and many creative blends of the two. To capitalize on my students’ (seemingly inexhaustible) desire to chat, I work to increase student talk time in our Spanish immersion classes. I use several strategies to build and assess students’ oral language.