Tips on Helping Shy ESL Students

Participation plays a big part in the success of ESL
students. Sadly, not all students are open to the idea of participating in
class or group activities. You keep encouraging these shy students, but they
just won’t budge. So, how do you help these shy ESL students to open up a bit?

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Helping Shy ESL Students to Speak Up
More

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Here are five simple tips to help shy ESL students to break
out of their shells and be more active in class activities. Try them out. You’ll
be glad you do.

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Identify the causes

Identifying the cause is the first step to help shy students
speak up more. One popular reason is that they are very conscious about their
accents. For these kinds of students, let them know that accents are alright.
Even native speakers have accents. If they don’t believe you, just show them this video.

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Other students are too afraid of making mistakes and become
a laughing stock. As a teacher, make it a policy to never laugh at anyone in the
class. People make mistakes when they’re learning new languages and it’s
perfectly normal.

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Once in a while, make small mistakes deliberately to show that even the experienced can stumble from
time to time. On the occasion that you make a genuine mistake, admit it to the
class. Use your mistakes to encourage students to take risks and not be afraid of making blunders.

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Use pairs

Public speaking is scary for many people. Even speaking from
your seat in a class of no more than twenty people can be intimidating. Ease up
the tension by letting your students work in pairs.

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Of course, don’t pair shy students with each other. That’s a
recipe for disaster.

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Pair shy students with someone a bit more talkative. Yes, you’ve
read that right — someone who is just a
bit more talkative. A super talkative student can be intimidating, at least
initially. You’ll also break the talkative students’ back by making them carry
the whole conversation.

Keep things simple

Asking hard questions right off the bat will only make the
shy students anxious about getting the answer wrong. Ask easy questions first
where the probability of getting the right answer is close to 100%. Gradually increase the difficulty
level of the questions so you can scale their level of comprehension.

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When the lesson is getting more difficult, help shy students
to correct themselves. For example, when you give them homework, they can correct their own misspelling and bad
grammar by using the online spelling check tool. That way they can feel
more confident when they turn in the homework in the class.

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Make a few corrections only

Having a teacher pointing out the dozen of grammar mistakes
you’ve made in class is a crushing experience for shy ESL students. You’re
pushing them deeper into their shells when you do that. Instead, just point out
a few of their glaring mistakes and move on.

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Watch your tone too. Talking with a “have you been listening to me at
all?”tone while making
corrections makes the shy students feel inadequate and dejected. The next time you
ask a question, they’ll play it safe, shake their heads, and avoid your gaze.

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Keep them off the spotlight

Shy people hate nothing more than being in the spotlight. When
you’re asking questions to the class, never call the shy students first. Let
them be the second, third, and so on. Once they give you an answer, don’t drag
on. Make a short comment or correction and move on to the next person.