English Teaching

ELT365 · Day 211 — The productive classroom — STT over TTT

📚60-Day ELT Masterclass — This post is part of an ongoing series. View full index →

Idea — Student Talking Time (STT) and Student Writing Time should dominate a productive-skills lesson. If the teacher is talking for more than 30% of the time, learners are not practising the skill the lesson is meant to teach.

Example — A 60-minute speaking lesson: 10 minutes setup/feedback (TTT), 50 minutes pair and group speaking (STT). That ratio is achievable. Many classrooms invert it.

Try — Set a timer for your next lesson. Every 10 minutes, note: who was talking — teacher or learners? If TTT exceeds 40%, redesign the delivery stage as a peer task instead.


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