A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Have you ever tried to teach a student, or help a student when you don't speak the same language? I have. I spend a lot of time pointing and drawing pictures.

As I watch the ESL teacher teach mostly in Spanish I wonder if I could teach his class. I wondered today if I could teach an entire math class without saying a word.

When I teach math I spend most of my time drawing pictures. If I'm not drawing pictures I'm letting students mess around with manipulatives. If we aren't doing that I try to get the students to work in groups and "discover" or find a pattern.

Could I teach without speaking a word? I doubt it. Could I teach when we don't speak the same language? Maybe, Certainly if we had a good number of words in common. I might even be a better teacher for it.

Next time you teach try using fewer words and see what happens.

Or as Dan says "What Can You Do With This"