(Fujita) Hello, everyone watching this video. Welcome to WEEK 5 of our “Interactive Teaching” Skill Sessions series. Today’s topic is how to encourage student responsiveness. Hello, everyone. (Student) Hello. (Fujita) You often need to encourage students to interact during a class. There are various types of response you might want from them, such as expressing their opinion, or giving a presentation in front of the class. However, you might surprise students if you suddenly ask them to give their opinion. It’s important to provide a preparatory or warm-up activity during the introductory stage of a class to improve students’ responses. I’d like you to watch another short scene and try to identify the ways the instructor encourages students to respond. The scene depicts the introductory stage of a class. There are four points I want you to look out for. Find the four points. Examine and express your ideas. Here are the actors, the same ones as last session. Now, let’s go. (Watanabe) OK, so there are certain art forms called composite arts. One example is the movie. Another is the play. I believe that the musical is the type of play that best serves as an example of a composite art form. Let me ask all of you – has anyone ever seen a musical before? Tominaga-san. OK. Next question – has anyone ever been to see a play? Actress 2 (A2): Once, once, once! (Watanabe) Thank you. What about a movie? OK, thank you. Movies are more popular, but there is a famous musical that was adapted into a movie called West Side Story. The name of the composer is… who is it? All together, please! Actors: Leonard Bernstein! (Watanabe) Yes, Leonard Bernstein. Today, I’d like to start by talking about Leonard Bernstein. (Fujita) Let’s stop there. There were four points in that scene related to preparing and encouraging student interaction. Think about what they might be and talk with the student next to you. I’ll give you 30 seconds. There are four. Some of them are easy to pick out, but the others might be difficult. (Fujita) 12 seconds left. Three, two, one. Time’s up. You might have noticed something else apart from the four points. I’m excited to hear your ideas. Now, let’s start from here. You can’t say the same thing as anyone else, so the last student to speak should be the most prepared. What points did you notice? (Student) The instructor asked questions step by step. (Fujita) He asked questions. He had the students raise their hands. Thank you. How about you? (Student) He moved around and kept the students’ attention. (Fujita) He moved around. Thank you. And what about you? (Student) He said, “all together” to the students and created an atmosphere that encouraged them to answer together. (Fujita) Thank you. And last but not least, what did you notice? (Student) He used individual names. (Fujita) He called the students by name, like “Miyazaki-san.” Great. Thank you. You mentioned something outside the main four points, but I’m going to talk about that one later on as an extra tip. Now I’m going to explain the four points one by one. Please look at the actors again. They’re currently at the end of the scene, so I’m going to rewind them. Rewind! (Fujita) OK, they are rewound. This movement doesn’t mean anything. Let’s watch the scene one more time on fast-forward and check each point. Fast-forward to the first point! (Fujita) Let’s stop here. This is the first point – “gesture” – which none of you mentioned. We often hear that gesture is important. However, just moving your hands meaninglessly, or moving them too much, is annoying. Gestures have meanings. Moving your left hand and right hand like this helps direct the audience’s attention, which improves the responsiveness of the eyes. If you stand still without moving, the eyes of the audience won’t move, so it won’t be interesting. Their eyes might even dry out. In order to avoid that situation, think of a gesture and make use of it intentionally to direct the gaze of the audience. You can use your hands intentionally like this to encourage interaction. That’s the first point – gesture. OK, let’s move on to the second point. (Fujita) We’ll stop here. I think you get the point. The second point is “movement.” Look at the students. As the instructor moved, they changed their posture. If you stay in the same position, you’ll get tired. Therefore, it is important for the instructor to move in order to encourage the students to move. You shouldn’t just move about restlessly, but be conscious of movement that will lead to your students moving. That’s the second point – movement. Now, let’s move on to the third point. (Fujita) Let’s stop here. The third point is, as you mentioned, “asking the students to raise their hands.” When you ask questions step by step, having students raise their hands is the most effective way to involve them in the activity. It is important here for the instructor to demonstrate to the students by raising their own hand. It’s often said that the relationship between an instructor and their students is that of a mirror, so students are likely to mimic what the instructor does. So keep in mind to show the movement yourself first, and then your movement will prompt the students to move. OK, the next point is the last one. (Fujita) And we’ll stop here. The last point is, as you mentioned, “getting the students to speak” by saying, “All together!” You might think that having them speak seems a little childish, but actually, it’s important to do this when teaching adults, too. Asking the students to speak at the beginning functions as a good warm-up for introducing themselves to the person next to them, or expressing their opinions later on. I strongly recommend you get your students speaking at the beginning. What you need to make sure when you encourage these four kinds of interaction is going through these step by step. You can’t start an engine at full throttle right away. So start with small movements of their eyes, movements of their bodies, then have them raise their hands if they want to say something, and get them speaking. By doing this in steps, you’ll encourage your students to engage their mind and body gradually, and they’ll be able to interact in a bigger way, such as expressing their opinions or standing up in front of the class. Plan your class deliberately in this way, and the students will be able to participate in your class smoothly. Now I’ll let the actors unfreeze. That’s all for this session. Thank you.
