Talking Isn't Teaching

Video transcript

What’s the most common problem that CELTA trainees have in teaching practice? Let me introduce another fictitious CELTA trainee who’s totally fallen into the trap.

It’s my fourth teaching practice and I’d promised myself this time I’d do less of the talking.

My lesson focus was vocabulary for travel. I’d planned a lovely lead-in with a suitcase and flashcards and a fun information gap activity to practise the target language. I was excited. It felt like something I’d actually use in real life.

And in the moment, things seemed to go well.

I set the context, explained the task… and then I kept explaining.
And then I gave an example. And another one.
And then I reworded the example just to make sure everyone really understood.
And then I added something that felt useful at the time but was, in hindsight… not strictly relevant.

The students were still looking at me, mostly politely, but somewhere between “You need to find someone who’s been on a long journey” and “This is a great opportunity to practise the past simple, remember we talked about that on Monday,” I realised…
I was doing the task for them.

Afterwards, when I watched the video and wrote my reflection, it hit me:
The learners had barely spoken for the first 10 minutes of the lesson.
The most fluent speaker in the room… was me.

Does this sound familiar? It’s probably the most common issue tutors see on CELTA so here are some things to ponder on:

1. Why do you think trainees often talk too much in lessons? What might be driving that behaviour?
2. What impact might excessive teacher talk have on learning opportunities for the class? How might it affect timing, pace and engagement?
3. How can planning help reduce teacher talk time? What specific steps could be taken during the planning stage?
4. What kinds of teacher talk are useful and when does it become counterproductive? How can you strike that balance?

If you’re nodding and thinking that this is an issue in YOUR practice, you’re not alone. Almost everyone talks too much in early lessons. It comes from a good place: wanting to help, to clarify, to fill silence. But silence can be golden. Pause after you ask a question. Give learners time to think, to try, to make mistakes.

Keep your instructions short, clear, and checked. If you need to rephrase, it’s probably a sign they weren’t clear the first time.

In your lesson plan, highlight when you’ll be talking and for how long. Then find places to cut it down. Seriously, time yourself.

A good rule of thumb? If you’re talking for more than 60 seconds at a stretch in what was supposed to be a learner-centred activity… Pause. Breathe. Let them take the lead.

And if you really want to investigate your teacher talk time, record your lesson and listen back. You might be surprised at what’s happening.

If this was helpful, I’ve got lots of other useful material on my site. Check it out in the link below and like and subscribe to the channel- it really helps!