Chalk Talks
A Review of: Chalk Talks, by Norma Shapiro and Carol Genser
(Command Performance Language Institute, 1994)
The approach is based on Norma Shapiro's own ESOL teaching experience. She found that by drawing simple pictures as students talked, she was able to make one person's story (e.g., about a medical emergency or a voyage to the United States) into the focus of a language lesson for all the students. Often these stories would come up spontaneously in class, for example, as a student came in with a cast on her arm and others wanted to know what had happened. Because she found the drawing method effective, Shapiro would sometimes plan a "chalk talk," seeking students' stories or opinions on a particular topic (e.g., children's problems in school) that might have surfaced in a previous class session. As the students told their stories or expressed their views, Shapiro drew a symbol or symbols on the blackboard to represent each sentence. She then repeated the idea to the students, using correct English language structure. She had the whole class practice the correctly worded sentence before the storyteller continued.
Shapiro worked with Carol Genser, a friend and professional artist, to refine the Chalk Talk method and to come up with a drawing system that allows teachers to visually represent a large number of words and concepts needed by ESL students. Through both explanations and sample lessons, the authors show teachers how they can use the Chalk Talk method to build their own lessons from student-generated material.
Chalk Talks is exciting for a number of reasons. First, experienced teachers often find that some of their best lessons develop spontaneously when students suddenly begin talking about topics that are important to them. However, many teachers find it hard to really take advantage of these opportunities, being unsure how to get the whole class involved or how to structure a lesson so that what is learned will be retained. Although teachers may be excited because learners are engaged in real conversation, students often feel it is time to get back to the "real lesson." By utilizing the structured approach presented in Chalk Talks, students can see the free-flowing discussion becoming the real lesson.
In many classes, when one student starts talking about something that is not a direct response to a teacher's question, others begin to "tune out." With Chalk Talks, as a student begins speaking, the teacher draws symbols on the board, allowing other participants not only to understand and focus on their classmate's story, but actually to practice telling the story themselves. Thus, students pay close attention to each other's stories and contributions and strengthen their own oral language skills at the same time.
Another real strength of this book is that the content suggested by the symbols is substantive and meaningful for adult students. Symbols included in the book's symbol dictionary include such concepts as earthquake, having a nightmare, menopause, farm, rice, and gangs. Symbols that represent abstract, complex, and emotionally charged subjects, as well as more common, concrete nouns and verbs, allow even students with the most limited English language and literacy skills to begin to discuss topics that are important and meaningful to them. Teachers often comment that they can't use certain methods or address certain issues in their classes because their students' English language skills are too low. However, when students know that as long as they can get their ideas across (using words, half-sentences, gestures, etc.), their teacher will represent their thoughts first in pictures and then in well-structured English sentences, they are motivated to use their limited English skills to discuss events and issues that are of real importance. Thus, Chalk Talks can help teachers engage students at all levels in significant discussions on a wide variety of subjects.
Chalk Talks is perfect for building lessons around students' cultural traditions, experiences with immigration, problems in the United States, and personal highlights (e.g., a reunion with a family member or a citizenship ceremony). The Chalk Talk approach can also be used to help students discuss issues in the news that touch their lives. For example, if students had come into class distressed after the killing of the Haitian couple travelling in their native country, this could have become the basis of a Chalk Talk lesson.
A further strength of the Chalk Talk approach is that it integrates meaningful communication with the study of correct language structures. The students generate the content and make the initial attempts to use the language. The teacher then models the correct structures for getting the students' ideas across, and then the students practice these structures. Through the use of the Chalk Talk symbols, students are prompted to practice the correct language structures without reading from a text.
Although I was very impressed with the richness of the lessons described in the book and eager to try the methods myself, several questions and potential problems arose for me. First, the authors assert that "the symbols were developed for the non-artist who believes s/he simply can't draw. With only a few exceptions, the symbols should be able to be drawn without any practice." Although they say they attempted to keep the drawings very simple, as a non-artist I actually felt rather intimidated as I looked through the symbol dictionary. I continue to feel that in order to use the drawing system with any confidence, I would need to participate in a fairly intensive teacher workshop. I hope that at some point Boston teachers will have an opportunity to participate in such a training so that more of us will be able to use this exciting approach.
Second, the authors instruct teachers to pause after drawing each symbol in order to have all students practice the language. This seems problematic in cases where a student is telling an important, and perhaps emotional, story. I wonder whether the technique might be adapted, depending on the content of the story and the language level of the storyteller. If a student seems to want to tell a story without interruption, it might be better for the teacher to continue to draw major symbols, and to have the class practice at the end.
Third, as Shapiro presents it, the method involves a good deal of memorizing on the part of the students. Although I see the advantage of having students practice correct language structures, I wonder whether this degree of memorization is really necessary. As Shapiro describes it, a student generates the initial language but the teacher translates this into correct English before it is practiced by the rest of the class. Individual teachers may want to make different decisions about how much of the students' original language is maintained as the story is preserved and practiced.
While the authors have presented a wonderful approach for "capturing" student stories and building oral practice around these stories, I was disappointed that they didn't go further in demonstrating how such narratives could be used as the center of the overall curriculum. In the book's Foreword, the Chalk Talk approach is appropriately compared to the Language Experience Approach, which also builds lessons from student-generated material but which focuses on reading and writing, rather than oral skills. In order to take the Chalk Talk approach a step further, teachers might want to develop specific skill-building lessons (e.g. grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary) out of the Chalk Talk stories, as has been done effectively with the Language Experience Approach.
Chalk Talks is not a student text and so is not a book that can be used quickly by a teacher whe wants an already-prepared lesson for the next class. However, for teachers who are interested in exploring approaches that will allow them to expand their own skills as teachers using a participatory approach, this book makes an important contribution. I would urge ESOL programs to get this book and to plan workshops that will allow teachers to experiment with the method together so that they can build their confidence and skills in using the Chalk Talk approach in their classes.
In order to provide ESOL instruction that helps our students develop their capacities to communicate in English about the things that really matter to them, it is crucial that we find more ways to help learners tell their stories, ask their questions, and express their opinions in class. Because ESOL students bring such richness of experience and perspectives to class, we need to learn to take advantage of the unplanned conversations and questions that often arise. For teachers who wish to do this, Chalk Talks can provide excellent guidance on how to take the spontaneous teaching moments and build them into full lessons that help all our students to build skills and confidence in oral English.
(This book will soon be available in the A.L.R.I. library and can be ordered directly from Alta Book Center, 14 Adrian Court, Burlingame, CA 94010; phone 800-ALTA/ESL; fax 800-ALTA/FAX.)