Thinking
Outside the Blank: 8 Critical Thinking Activities for ESL Students
1.
Ask Questions
Sometimes an easy answer
isn’t much of an answer at all. Getting your students to think
about how they came to the answer that they did will challenge them to think
critically, and it gets them using more language and using it in practical
ways. For example, in an activity for using the simple
future, you might ask your students what they
will be doing in five years. One student might answer that he is going to be a
movie star. You can ask questions like the following to get your student to
think more critically: What makes you think that? What evidence do you
see in your life now that will make that true in the future? By asking
these questions, you challenge your student to think about his thinking. At the
same time, you provide an opportunity for him to use English to express his
ideas.
2.
Open Ended Questions
In classes like grammar,
one answer to a question is usually the right one. But
giving these types of answers often doesn’t require anything more than
memorization and recall. When you can (and it might not be during a grammar
lesson) ask questions that don’t have a “right” answer and challenge
your students to think on a deeper level. For example, if you were doing a
vocabulary unit on food,
you might ask a recall question about what a waiter says when taking someone’s
order. (What will you have?) An open ended question that will challenge
your students to think more deeply might look like the following. If you were a
server in a restaurant and worked the night shift, how would your life be
different? How would you balance school and work? Encourage this type of
thinking and expression and your students will benefit in more ways than one.
3.
Give a Minute
Part of your role in
getting your students to think critically is giving them the time and the
encouragement to do so. When you ask a question, giving your
students a few minutes to think before they have to answer can mean the
difference between a short easy answer and one that comes from serious thought.
Doing this is easy. Simply count to sixty after asking a question to give
your students a chance to think before they answer. You can also teach your
students phrases like, “Can I have a minute to think…Give me just a minute”
when they would like time to process their ideas. When they use these phrases,
it tells you that they are actively trying to answer your question and gives
them the space they need to put their ideas and words together before speaking.
In addition, using this technique with native speakers will help those not
familiar with ESL students know that your students are not unable to answer
their questions but that they need a bit of time before they do.
4.
Encourage More
For students of English
as a second language, giving a quick answer is often appealing. A
quick answer does the job and shows you can use language appropriately.
However, a quick answer doesn’t necessarily encourage critical thinking. Using
phrases to get your students to say (and think) more will help them use deeper
thinking. You can say thinks like the following: Tell me more about
that. What else do you think? Why is that good/bad/scary/difficult/or not? What
part is most interesting to you? Why? Asking these questions
challenges your students to say more.
5.
Provide Scaffolds
When learning something
new or tackling a new problem, all people sometimes need support. You
can support your ESL students as they are learning new skills by giving them
tools to help them. Giving examples, breaking tasks into smaller more
manageable steps, giving hints or clues, and providing reminders can all help
your students by giving them temporary supports in a new and challenging task.
As your students become more adept at that task, remove these supports and
encourage their successes, big and small. In the meantime, be patient and give
them the assistance they need to reach success.
6.
Encourage Argument
Encouraging argument
doesn’t mean letting your students go for one another’s throats. Critical
thinking means being able to make an argument for your beliefs or opinions. You
can encourage your students to express logical and reasonable supports for
their opinions during discussions and
for writing assignments. Doing so will help them think analytically which is
part of thinking critically. Have students give reasons or examples that
support their ideas, and they will learn to support their arguments naturally.
7.
Make Predictions
Making predictions is a
tool that is quite useful in the ESL classroom. You
can ask your students to take a guess at what comes next in reading assignments
(fiction, essays, informational articles) as well as video segments you play in
class (movies, television
shows, recorded dialogues). When they make
these predictions, they not only have to think critically, they will be using
the language skills they are learning. The next time your students are reading
a passage or listening to a segment, hit pause and ask them what they think
will come next.
8.
Take Two Sides
Thinking about both sides
of an argument will challenge your students to think beyond their own opinions
and beliefs. A simple way to do this is to take a controversial
statement and challenge your students to list
some reasons in support of the statement as well as some reasons against it.
Take the thinking a step further and teach your students how to make a
refutation, either spoken or in writing, a skill that is often useful in the
academic world.
In some ways, critical
thinking may seem out of place in the language classroom.
After all, so much of
language learning is rote memorization. But critical thinking can and does fit
in the language classroom. Getting your students think more gets them saying
more, and saying more is using language creatively and communicatively. Try one
or more of these techniques with your students and see how well they can
express their thoughts with the language they are learning.
How do you encourage your
students to think critically?
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