Practical tools, activities, and resources
to guide instruction
Assessment
Ongoing Observations
As students develop their listening comprehension, language complexity, and communication skills, their confidence levels when communicating in English increase. Teachers should watch for the following classroom behaviors and use them to guide instructional decision making:
- Are students more at ease in conversations? Do they report being more willing or more empowered to talk to strangers?
- Is there a growing sense of class rapport as students increasingly share information about other people, issues, places, things, and opportunities?
- Are students capable of making interesting conversation on a wider variety of topics?
- Can students ask for and respond to clarification when they do not understand something?
- Do students display body language that is culturally appropriate in the United States while asking and answering questions? Do they have a sense of what might be considered offensive or inappropriate questions or topics for conversation in the United States?
In the following section of this module, we will share classroom activities that foster such developments in students’ linguistic behaviors.
